PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WHDH) - A Rhode Island man was convicted of molesting his girlfriend’s young daughter over four years.
A Providence County Superior Court jury found 46-year-old Joseph Coletta, of North Providnece, guilty of five counts of second-degree child molestation, according to the State of Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office.
He is currently being held without bail pending his sentencing.
Coletta molested the girl between the ages of 8 and 12 on several dates from 2008 to 2012, prosecutors said.
The incidents took place in Providence, North Providence and Lincoln.
“It is heartbreaking whenever a child is victimized in this way, in particular because we know the road to recovery is long and difficult,” Attorney General Peter F. Neronha said. “The defendant’s conduct here stole this child’s innocence and forever changed her future. The bill for that conduct has come due. He faces a long period of incarceration, and deservedly so.”
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