NORTHAMPTON — An Easthampton man is facing statutory child rape charges after police said he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl he met online.
Jonathan F. Buri, 22, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Northampton District Court to two counts of statutory child rape, performing an unnatural act with a child younger than 16, indecent assault and battery on a child younger than 13 and furnishing alcohol to someone younger than 21.
The incident unfolded the evening of Feb. 13 after authorities spoke to the mother of the 13-year-old, who reported her daughter missing shortly before 11 p.m. that night, according to a police report.
About 30 minutes later, an officer in the area of Brookside Cemetery in Easthampton reported he came across a vehicle with a male and female in the backseat. The girl, police said, was in a state of undress. When the officer asked the girl what the two were doing in the car, she told him “having sex,” according to the report. The Gazette generally does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault.
Before police found Buri and the girl in his vehicle on Williston Avenue, Buri had picked up the 13-year-old at Maple Street School and drove her around to various locations in the city, according to the police report. The girl consumed half a nip of liquor, and the two also smoked marijuana, police said.
Police took the girl back to her home where they encouraged her mother to take her daughter to a hospital to undergo a rape kit evaluation.
In an interview with police, Buri said he met the girl on the dating and meet-up application called Skout and that the girl had portrayed herself as being 18 years old. The girl also told police she had misrepresented her age to Buri, according to court records.
Buri is expected back in court April 7.
Michael Majchrowicz can be reached at mmajchrowicz@gazettenet.com.