A 22-year-old man already indicted for allegedly for attempting to sexually assault a 14-year-old Massachusetts girl he recorded having sex has been indicted once again by a Rockingham Superior Court grand jury.
Robert Stephens, of 16 Prospect St., Apt. 1, in Exeter, is currently behind bars at the Rockingham County House of Corrections. He was indicted this month on two counts of distribution of three or more child sexual abuse images and one count of felonious sexual assault.
Previously, Stephens had been indicted on one count each of aggravated attempted felonious sexual assault and attempted felonious sexual assault, in addition to four child pornography-related counts. One of the new indictments claims, though, that there is evidence indicating Stephens did actually have intercourse with the 14-year-old girl, whom he recorded in a Hampton Beach cottage in May 2011.
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Stephens "knowingly engaged in sexual penetration, specifically sexual intercourse," with the victim, according to the indictment paperwork.
The sexual assault charge is a Class B felony, while each of the distribution of child sexual abuse images counts state that those crimes are punishable by between 10 and 20 years in jail and up to a $4,000 fine.
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Stephens was scheduled for a pre-trial conference his six previous felonies on June 7 and was scheduled to go to trial on June 17.
An indictment is not an indication of guilt or conviction; rather, it means a grand jury believed there was sufficient evidence to warrant a trial.
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