SALEM, MASS. (WHDH) - A Lawrence man pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the death of a 13-year-old Amesbury girl Friday, authorities said.
Carlos Rivera, 49, of Lawrence, appeared in Salem Superior Court on a slew of charges including involuntary manslaughter, aggravated rape of a child, rape, indecent assault and battery, distribution of Class B drug to a minor, according to the Essex District Attorney’s Office.
The girl passed away after Rivera dropped her off at Lawrence General Hospital in May 2019, investigators said. At time of the incident, law enforcement sources told 7NEWS that the girl had gone into cardiac arrest.
Investigators learned that a friend had received a Snapchat video of the young teen, showing her unresponsive and unconscious at 7:00 a.m. She remained in that condition at the defendant’s home until he brought her to the hospital nine hours later.
“Why did you not call for help Carlos? But, instead, you made the choice to let her die,” the girl’s mother, Deborah Goldsmith said. “Every day is hell. Why did you not save her?”
Further investigation found that Rivera provided alcohol, drugs, food, clothing and gifts to multiple girls in exchange for sexual acts, according to the DA.
Over the course of nearly six years, he victimized three women and seven girls under the age of 18.
“He would have the girl they all described as his best friend, doing the most for him sexually, and that girl would get the most money and the best gifts and essentially would recruit other girls,” prosecutor Jessica Strasnick told the court.
Rivera was sentenced to serve between 20 and 22 years in state prison followed by 10 years of probation. While on probation, the Judge ordered him to participate in substance use, mental health and sex offender evaluations and undergo any treatment deemed necessary, stay away from and have no contact with any of the victims, have no unsupervised contact with children under 18, submit to GPS monitoring for at least 2 years, and comply with the Sex Offender Registry Board.
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