Migrant at Massachusetts shelter accused of raping his daughter pleads guilty

Rick Sobey, Boston Herald on Jul 17, 2025

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BOSTON — A migrant staying at a state-run shelter who allegedly raped and impregnated his 14-year-old daughter has pleaded guilty to sexual assault, according to officials.

The 44-year-old man recently pleaded guilty to aggravated rape of a child for sexually assaulting his daughter, according to the Middlesex DA’s office and Marlboro Police. He’s facing 12 to 15 years behind bars.

The Herald is not naming the defendant to protect the minor girl’s identity.

The sexual abuse at the Marlboro Holiday Inn was recorded as a “Serious Incident Report” by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities last May.

The shelter site run by Eliot Community Human Services had been investigating the pregnancy of the girl.

The father had reportedly impregnated his daughter in the past, according to the serious incident report.

“Between September of 2023 and May of 2024, the victim and the defendant were residing at the same hotel in Marlborough when adults at both the hotel and the school the victim attended became concerned that the 14-year-old victim was pregnant,” the Middlesex DA’s office said in a statement.

“The concerns were reported to the Department of Children and Families as well as to local police and the District Attorney’s Office,” the DA’s office added. “As the suspect and the victim were residing at the same hotel, the victim was immediately placed into the care of the Department of Children and Families and the defendant was removed from the shelter while the investigation was ongoing.”

During the investigation, an ultrasound was conducted — placing the time of conception within the timeframe when the father and daughter were living together in Marlboro.

After the baby was born, buccal swabs were taken from the victim, her child, and the defendant.

“Those samples were sent to a forensic testing laboratory, and on January 24, 2025, it was determined that not only was the defendant the biological father of the victim, it was also twenty-three trillion times more likely than not, that he was the biological father of the victim’s baby,” the DA’s office said.

This incident was featured in a massive batch of “Serious Incident” reports from the Bay State’s migrant-family shelter program. There have been disturbing incidents of physical and sexual assault in state-funded shelters since 2022.

The thousands of pages of reports from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities were obtained through a Herald public records request and appeal.

The reports — which expose incidents of child rape, domestic violence, brawls, drunkenness, drugs and more in the emergency housing shelter system — came as Gov. Maura Healey dealt with the fallout from a big drug and fentanyl bust in a Revere migrant hotel. The governor after that high-profile arrest ordered an inspection of state-run shelters.

The reports show that there has been a long list of troubling incidents in the shelter system for years.

The Healey administration has been phasing out the use of hotels and moving people more quickly out of the shelter system and into stable housing.

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