Newsletter Signup
Stay up to date on all the latest news from Boston.com
Rape kit initiative leads to indictment in New Bedford case from 2012
The district attorney’s office said that the statute of limitations would have expired in July 2027, had this kit not been tested.
A New Bedford man was indicted Friday in a 2012 cold rape case of a 16-year-old girl.
Untested Rape Kit Initiative:
Dylan Ponte, 28, was arrested in early July as part of Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn’s untested rape kit initiative. He was indicted late last week on rape (two counts), indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14 (two counts), and witness intimidation (one count).
Ponte’s case will now be handled in Fall River Superior Court. The court will likely set an arraignment date for the new indictment for sometime in September, Quinn’s office said in a release.
Advertisement:
On the night of July 3, 2012, the victim had allegedly been given alcohol and was drinking with Ponte and others in the area of the Hayden-McFadden School, the district attorney’s office said in a statement last month.
In her account to police, the victim said she blacked out somewhere between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. on July 4. At about 7 a.m., she woke up outside of her friend’s home and found that she had no underwear on and bruising on multiple areas of her body, the district attorney’s office said. She also felt pain in multiple private areas of her body, prosecutors said.
Advertisement:
The victim immediately went to St. Luke’s Hospital with her friend, where staff contacted New Bedford police and administered a rape kit.
But that kit and more than 1,100 others from Bristol County were never tested by the state.
The district attorney’s office said that the statute of limitations on this case would have expired in July 2027, had this kit not been tested.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com