NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) – A judge on Thursday revoked the probation of a convicted sex offender charged with raping a 6-year-old boy in a public library after watching a videotape of the child say it was like being attacked by a “T-rex and an alligator.”

Corey Saunders, 26, was sentenced to five years in prison. He is accused of raping the boy on Jan. 30 while the child’s mother worked on a computer, just outside the room less than 10 feet away, at the New Bedford Free Public Library.

At the time, Saunders was on probation after serving four years in prison for the attempted rape of a 7-year-old boy.

On the video, the boy spoke calmly and bluntly as he described how Saunders lured him between bookshelves at the library’s magazine room and raped him orally.

“He said, ‘Can I touch you?’ and I said, ‘No,’ and he went right in and touched me, and he was touching my privates,” the boy said in response to questions from a child welfare official.

The boy said Saunders first approached him as he sat at a table reading books in the library’s magazine room. He said he and Saunders eventually went down an aisle between bookshelves, where he said Saunders raped him.

Afterward, the boy said he pulled up his pants, buckled his belt “and then I ran.”

After watching the 20-minute video, Judge Robert Kane said he found the boy “certainly credible” and his account of the alleged rape “sequential, coherent and detailed.”

Prosecutors said Saunders violated his probation both by committing a new crime and by violating a condition that prohibited him from having unsupervised contact with children.

Kane followed their recommendation and sentenced Saunders to the 5-year maximum for attempted rape, the charge for which he was on probation.

Saunders’ attorney, Alan Zwirblis, had asked the judge to sentence him to two years. Zwirblis did not immediately return a message left later Thursday.

Saunders, who already was being held without bail, will begin serving the sentence immediately as he awaits trial on the new charges. Gregg Miliote, a spokesman for Bristol District Attorney Sam Sutter, said prosecutors expect the trial to be held this summer.

Saunders was released from prison in December 2006, despite objections from prosecutors and three psychologists. He is a Level 3 sex offender, a designation given to those believed most likely to re-offend.

The case has reignited debate over a civil commitment law that allows prosecutors to request that sexual offenders be locked up indefinitely after completing their prison terms.

Prosecutors sought to have Saunders committed after he served his term, but a judge rejected the request, citing Saunders’ history of being sexually abused as a child and his lack of sexual crimes while in prison.

Copy the Story Link

Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.