SPRINGFIELD — Bail was set at $100,000 Wednesday for a suspended city police officer accused of child rape.
The lawyer for Daniel Cintron asked for his client’s bail to be set at a total of $10,000. A prosecutor asked to set the bail at $250,000.
Hampden Superior Court Judge Daniel W. Wrenn ultimately set bail at $100,000, $50,000 on each child rape case pending against Cintron, 29, of Monson.
Defense lawyer Joe A. Smith III said the prosecution has no forensic evidence against Cintron, whom he said is the victim of a personal vendetta. Smith said Cintron has been subjected to “salacious” media coverage because he is a police officer.
Smith said he stipulated at a July court hearing that Cintron was dangerous, but that was a tactical move to avoid a dangerousness hearing. Under state law establishing dangerousness, a defendant can be held for 120 days without right to bail.
The bail hearing Wednesday was to establish a bail amount for Cintron.
Assistant District Attorney Rachael T. Eramo asked for the $250,000 bail amount, citing what she said is the chronic nature of the abuse and the strength of the case. She said high bail is necessary to make sure Cintron returns to court.
Smith said everything the prosecution has done to try to corroborate the charges has weakened the case against Cintron. He said child rape is “the most salacious thing you can be charged with.”
Cintron has denied 31 criminal charges, including allegations of child rape involving three victims.
Of the charges, 28 are grouped in one case involving two children. The alleged victims are under 10 years old, according to court records. There also are three indictments grouped in a separate case, involving one child who is over 14 but under 16 years old.
The allegations say the crimes happened in Chicopee or Springfield. Most indictments say the acts happened between May 10, 2015, and May 18, 2018.
Cintron is also charged with one count of dissemination of matter harmful to minors and one count of engaging children in sexual conduct.
For one child Cintron faces four counts of forcible rape of a child, four counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, and four counts of intimidation of a witness.
For a second child Cintron faces four counts of forcible rape of a child, six counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, and four counts of intimidation of a witness.
For a third child Cintron faces one count of forcible rape of a child under 16 and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14.
Cintron was suspended without pay in September 2017 after he was charged with unarmed robbery and assault and battery in connection with a dispute outside the Eastfield Mall involving another man and three teens. That case is still pending in Hampden Superior Court.
Source: https://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/11/bail_reduced_for_suspended_cit.html