Press Release: 7/18/2025

Man Pleads Guilty to Sexual Assault of Minor in Marlborough

 

POSTED ON: JULY 17, 2025 - 1:10PM

MARLBOROUGH – Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Marlborough Chief of Police David Giorgi have confirmed that Ronald Joseph, 44, pled guilty to aggravated rape of a child for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old female victim who was known to him.

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 concerns were reported to the Department of Children and Families as well as to local police and the District Attorney’s Office.  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 extensive ultrasound was conducted which placed the time of conception within the timeframe when the child and defendant were living together in Marlborough.  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. 

Ronald Joseph was arrested on January 31, 2025 and charged with aggravated rape of child and held without bail. He was subsequently indicted on February 19, 2025.  On Friday, July 11, 2025, Judge Kenneth Salinger sentenced the defendant to 12 – 15 years committed to the Massachusetts Department of Correction. The prosecutor assigned to this case was Suzanne Wiseman. The victim witness advocates were Cassie Alives and Cheri MacDonald.