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Crime & Safety

Girls' Molester Headed for Jail, Island Newspapers Report

In exchange for his guilty plea, Andrew R. Bradshaw avoids a child rape conviction but must serve 18 months in an off-Island jail and remain on probation for five and a half years, report the Vineyard Gazette and Martha's Vineyard Times.

A 49-year-old Martha's Vineyard man arrested in September by Tisbury police has pleaded guilty in Edgartown District Court to lesser charges involving the sexual assault of two young girls, Island newspapers report.

Andrew R. Bradshaw had been charged with offenses including forcible rape of a child.

In exchange for his guilty plea to reduced charges including open and gross lewdness and indecent assault and battery on a child younger than 14, Bradshaw will serve 18 months in an off-Island jail and remain on probation for five and a half years, according to the Martha's Vineyard Times.

The Vineyard Gazette reports that Judge H. Gregory Williams handed down two sentences of two and a half years each, with 18 months to serve and the balance suspended.

Bradshaw, a former Cub Scout troop leader who by the time of his arrest was said by Scouting officials to be no longer active in the organization, was accused of repeatedly molesting the two girls at his Vineyard Haven home as well as in Florida and New Hampshire, where separate investigations were underway.

Read more:

Former Tisbury man guilty of molesting children, Martha's Vineyard Times
Island Man Pleads Guilty to Child Assault Charges, Vineyard Gazette
Child Rape Charge Against Former Martha's Vineyard Cub Scout Leader Reported (MV Patch)

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