BOSTON, Sept. 23, 2015—More than two decades after he sexually assaulted a young child living in his home, a Dorchester man has been sentenced to state prison and the adult survivor of his abuse declared herself “liberated,” Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

OLEN PETERSON (D.O.B. 1/11/58) was convicted Sept. 18 of one count of rape of a child and three counts of indecent assault and battery of a child. Assistant District Attorney Alissa Goldhaber of the DA’s Child Protection Unit recommended that Peterson serve 12 to 15 years in prison followed by 10 years of probation with strict conditions intended to ensure he does not reoffend. 

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Mitchell Kaplan sentenced Peterson to four to five years in prison and declined to impose probation.

As a 6-year-old foster child, the victim was adopted by members of Peterson’s family. Goldhaber presented evidence and testimony to prove that Peterson resided in the same multifamily home as the victim when he sexually abused her from 1991 to 1998, beginning when the victim was only 7 years old.  During that time period Peterson would be alone with the victim while babysitting her afterschool, the evidence showed.

The victim disclosed the abuse to another relative at age 10, but no action was taken to protect her from future assault. The abuse resumed weeks later and continued until the victim entered high school and Peterson no longer had the opportunity for time alone with her.

Several years after the victim entered college and moved away from her adoptive family, she reported the assaults to Boston Police and Suffolk prosecutors before agreeing to take part in Peterson’s prosecution.

“That decision, hard as it may have been, set the stage for her abuser’s conviction and imprisonment,” Conley said. “Her strength has been an inspiration to us from the day of disclosure to the last word at sentencing.”

Now a 31-year-old woman, the survivor delivered a statement describing the long-term effects that child sexual abuse had on her life.

“I wish this abuse never happened to me,” she told the court. “I wish I was never placed into that family and into the hands of a pedophile. Olen ruined my life …. [But] when the guilty verdicts came down, this liberated the little girl within. Justice has prevailed thanks to the support of the Commonwealth, friends, and my loving fiancé. The power he once had is now mine.”

Sexual assault can happen to people of any age. While the victims of crime are asked to call 911 in an emergency, the survivors of sexual violence in Suffolk County can also call the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center’s 24-hour hotline at 800-841-8371. The Boston Area Rape Crisis Center provides medical advocacy, legal services, counseling, and other services to victims of rape and sexual assault.

Christine Berardino was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate.  Peterson was represented by Paul Davenport.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.