MANSFIELD, MASS. (WHDH) - An 18-year-old Haitian national has been arrested for sexually assaulting a minor in Massachusetts, according to immigration officials in Boston.
Akim Marc Desire was arrested last Wednesday in Mansfield and charged with indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, according to a statement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Mansfield police said a mother and her 10-year-old son came to the police station and reported that the child was inappropriately touched at a neighbor’s home.
Investigators went to a house on East Street and found Desire. Police questioned him through a Haitian Creole translator, and he denied interacting with the child, saying, “… I don’t speak English how would I talk to him?”
Officials said Desire legally entered the country on June 4, 2023, but that he violated the terms of his lawful entry once in the U.S.
“Apparently because he didn’t check in when he crossed the border,” said Mansfield Police Chief Ronald Sellon.
Desire was arraigned in Attleboro on Thursday and arrested by Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston on Friday, the statement said.
The ERO served Desire with a notice to appear in front of a Department of Justice immigration judge.
“We cannot tolerate such a potentially dire threat to the welfare of children in our community. Enforcement and Removal Operation (ERO) Boston will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing egregious noncitizen offenders from our New England neighborhoods,” said ERO Boston Director Todd Lyons.
Desire is currently being held at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility.
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