NORTHAMPTON — A Springfield man admitted Monday in court that he assaulted a girl when he was an overnight staff member at a former residential treatment program for children in Northampton.
Fabian Williams, 30, pleaded guilty in Hampshire Superior Court to four charges of assault and battery.
The charges stem from incidents in 2008 and 2009 at The Grove, a residential treatment program for children that was run by the Easthampton-based Northeast Center for Youth and Families. The facility closed in 2012.
Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Caleb Wiener said in court that during the period in question, Williams put his hands on the victim on four distinct occasions “in a manner that was harmful and offensive” to her.
Williams grabbed the girl and put his hands on her is an “unconsented, unjustified way,” Weiner said.
The plea agreement reduced four rape charges to charges of assault and battery. Prosecutors earlier discontinued prosecuting Williams on two charges of aggravated rape and abuse of a child, charges on which he had been indicted.
The Gazette generally does not identify victims of sexual assault.
Judge Richard Carey sentenced Williams to two-and-a-half years in jail on each count to be served concurrently. The sentence is the maximum sentence which is allowed under statute. At the time Monday’s hearing, Williams had been in jail more than 1,009 days.
Although Williams has more than completed the sentence imposed by Carey, he is being held on charges of both possession and possession to distribute heroin, according to the Hampden District Attorney’s Office. Williams was represented to by attorney Dana Goldblatt.
A co-defendant in The Grove case, Alphonso Cintron, was acquitted in April 2016 in Hampshire Superior Court on two counts of aggravated rape of a child as well as a charge alleging that he failed to report the abuse of a child.
Cintron, also known as Alphonso Smith, was a former night supervisor at The Grove. He had been jailed on $50,000 bail for more than 1½ years.
Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettenet.com.