SALEM — A Salem man was sentenced to eight to 10 years in state prison yesterday, a day after he was found guilty of repeated sexual assaults on a family member over a three-year period.
Jesus Najarro, 39, was convicted by a Salem Superior Court jury Wednesday of two counts of child rape and four counts of indecent assault and battery, following a weeklong trial.
During sentencing yesterday before Judge Douglas Wilkins, prosecutor Karen Hopwood said Najarro showed "particular cruelty" toward the girl, who had also been sexually abused by another relative a few years earlier.
Hopwood said the girl, in her early teens, and her mother had been "silenced" by other family members after the girl first disclosed being abused by another relative, in a verbal "attack" accusing them of lying and threatening that the mother would go to jail if police were called.
"He took full advantage of that," Hopwood said.
Hopwood had urged a life sentence along with a concurrent 15- to 20-year term for Najarro, a Salvadoran immigrant who is expected to be deported after he completes his term.
"To be honest, I don't know what he should get," the girl told Wilkins in a victim-impact statement she read yesterday in court. "All I know is I don't want someone like that free."
Defense lawyer Joseph Collins suggested a sentence within proposed guidelines that call for a three- to five-year term.
Wilkins suggested, however, that those guidelines fail to account for multiple incidents over an extended period and noted that Najarro used his position of trust within the family over a long period of time.
After his eight- to 10-year prison term, Najarro will be on probation for five years, with requirements that include registering as a sex offender, wearing a GPS tracking bracelet, sex offender and alcohol treatment, and no contact with the victim or any members of her immediate family.
He was also warned that if he is deported and then re-enters the country illegally, he will be found in violation of his probation.
The girl is facing the prospect of testifying again later this year, when another relative, Wilfredo Alas, stands trial on charges that he also molested her.
Courts reporter Julie Manganis may be reached at 978-338-2521 or jmanganis@salemnews.com.
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