Former Firefighter Charged With Sexually Assaulting Disabled Teen Over 5-Year Period
An ex-firefighter in New Hampshire faces numerous charges of sexual assault against a disabled teenage girl over a five-year period, WGME reported.
Joshua Gilbert, 42, was originally arrested on one charge on April 1. A grand jury process into his case later brought to light many more instances of sexual assault against the victim, ranging from 2012 to 2017 and beginning when she was 15.
Since the grand jury investigation, he has been indicted on 18 counts of sexual assault. If convicted, Gilbert could face between 10 and 20 years in prison per count. He is set to be arraigned in court next month.
The indictments claim that Gilbert's victim has an unspecified disability which rendered her incapable of giving consent, even when she was not underage. It also said Gilbert would have been aware of the girl's disability during the time that he abused her.
Gilbert was previously employed as a firefighter for the town of Newmarket. The town has since made a statement to the media confirming that Gilbert is no longer employed as one of its few full-time firefighters as of May 26.
"I have not read any indictments and have no other comments," town manager Steve Fournier said in a statement to SeacoastOnline.
Elsewhere, a Chicago man and woman were arrested last Tuesday and charged with sex crimes after the body of 15-year-old Melissa Rendon was discovered in an alleyway the prior weekend. Police involved in the case identified the suspects as Sergio Hernandez, 40, and Joslia Williams, 18.
Hernandez was charged with criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual abuse, and concealment of a death. Williams, conversely, was charged with child pornography and concealment of a death.
It was later revealed Williams had been an acquaintance of Rendon, who had an intellectual disability that has not been specified by authorities or family. Williams allegedly recorded videos of the 15-year-old being raped by Hernandez while drugged and passed out.
Rendon is believed to have died on August 6, the morning after Hernandez and Williams gave her pills thought to be Xanax and filmed several of the videos. The following day, the two found Rendon to be unresponsive and later attempted to dispose of her body in the alleyway. Prior to this, a fourth person had reportedly been with the group, but this person has not been identified.
"I don't want anyone to go through this," Jeffrey Carrillo, Rendon's father said. "I don't even want my worst enemy to go through something like what happened to my daughter. It's not fair."
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