HANSON, Mass. (AP/WHDH) — A Rhode Island man was arrested and charged with child rape over the weekend after police received a tip about a video posted on social media, police said.
Brown University graduate student Jared Soltys, 23, of Providence, was arraigned Monday on charges of statutory child rape and procuring liquor for someone under 21, according to a statement from Hanson police Chief Michael Miksch.
Hanson police received a tip from and young teenage boy and his mom about the troubling video at about 1 a.m. Saturday. It showed the suspect with a minor in an area of town that police recognized, police said in the statement.
Officers responded to the area and found Soltys with a 12-year-old and 13-year-old girl and a bottle of vodka.
“When asked what he was doing in the vehicle with the two girls. He had stated, ‘Can you please let me go, I’m begging you,'” prosecutor Zachary Ferris said.
Police said he claimed to be 16-years-old at the time.
He was about to post the $5,000 bail and was ordered to stay away from the victims.
“Social media definitely provides another level of documentation – whether its someone committing a crime or helps put us in a good direction, helps document peoples activities,” said Hanson police officer Corey Arsenau.
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