Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE -- After a second trial, a 20-year-old Woonsocket man has been convicted of molesting a 4-year-old girl in 2005.

Miguel A. Navarro, whose last known address was 100 Jeffers St., was found guilty in Providence County Superior Court on Wednesday of first-degree child molestation, following a seven-day trial, according to a news release today from Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch's office. The jury reached verdict after deliberating about an hour and a half.

Prosecutor Maureen Keough presented seven witnesses, including the victim, her brother, who was 8 at the time of the incident, her mother, the doctor who treated the girl at Hasbro Children's Hospital, and Woonsocket police officers.

Keough presented evidence that on Aug. 23, 2005, Navarro approached the girl, who was almost 5 at the time, and her brother at a playground behind the children's home. The children recognized Navarro. He lived in the neighborhood and he asked if they wanted to go get some frozen lemonade.

The brother said he didn't, but the girl went along. Navarro led her to Costa Park, about a five-minute walk from her home, and molested her in a shady, wooded area, according to the Attorney General's office.

When the brother arrived without his sister at the family's apartment, the mother and father went outside to look for the daughter and found her. As she was walking back to the apartment building, her mother described her as being in a state of shock, according to the Attorney General's office.

The first trial, in September, ended in a hung jury and was declared a mistrial.

Navarro was originally charged as a juvenile, then waived out of Family Court and tried as an adult. After being indicted, Navarro was arraigned in Providence County Superior Court in May 2006. He was arrested on a domestic-assault charge and was held without bail for 10 days in March 2007 -- that charge was later dismissed and the court increased his bail to $75,000 with surety.

He was arrested again in Woonsocket, on April 8, 2008, for the alleged knife-point abduction and assault of an 11-year-old girl who was walking to school. Found to be a bail violator, Navarro has been held at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston since April.

He has been remanded to the Adult Correctional Institutions to await sentencing on the conviction of the first offense and prosecution of the second alleged offense. The second alleged offense is still pending a grand jury investigation.

Judge Netti C. Vogel has scheduled a hearing on for Monday on Navarro's motion for a new trial.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

 Tags  convicted crime molestation Navarro Woonsocket

Comments

ebit said:

What kind of parents let their 8 year old and not even 5 year old kids go by themselves to the park???!!! This could've been prevented if the parents had been responsible and made sure an adult was with the children at all times, the way it's supposed to be!

Link | November 14, 2008 8:04 PM
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