SPRINGFIELD — The Hampden district attorney has filed additional charges against Miguel A. Rodriguez, the Springfield man accused last week of abducting an 11-year-old girl, to include multiple charges of sexual assault.
In documents filed Friday in Springfield District Court, prosecutors have added three counts of aggravated rape of a child with force and a single count of indecent assault and battery on a child under age 14.
Prosecutors also sought to have the court impound documents explaining the new charges, including the police report on the investigation. Judge John M. Payne agreed to impound the documents for six months.
Rodriguez previously was charged with kidnapping, assault with a dangerous weapon and intimidating a witness following the Jan. 15 abduction. This is the first time officials have indicated the victim in the case was also sexually assaulted.
Rodriguez was in court on Wednesday for a dangerousness hearing to determine if he should be a candidate for bail. Instead, prosecutors told the court that Rodriguez had repeatedly refused to meet with a clinician for a mental health evaluation. He was ordered to be taken to Bridgewater State Hospital for a mental health assessment.
He is due back in court on Feb. 11 to be arraigned on the new charges.
Rodriguez was arrested on the Massachusetts Turnpike several hours after he reportedly abducted the girl off the street as she walked home from school. The abduction — which officials said was a rare instance where a child was taken by a total stranger — triggered a regional Amber Alert that notified police departments, media and the general public throughout the Northeast.
As part of the Amber Alert, police released the name and photograph of the 11-year-old girl, and both have been used repeatedly in the media since. In light of the new charges, The Republican is no longer disclosing her identity.
Assistant District Attorney Rachael T. Eramo, in her request to the court for impounding parts of the case file, said the resulting and continuing publicity of the case could affect “the integrity of the criminal investigation into the abduction and sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl.” It also poses a threat to Rodriguez’s constitutional right to a fair trial, she said.
“Media attention in relation to this case is intense and ongoing. There has been statewide as well as nationwide media coverage of each scheduled court date,” she wrote. “Disclosing details (such as those in the court file) could bring undue or prejudicial publicity in the matter, affecting the defendant’s right to a fair trial.”
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