FALL RIVER — A 36-year-old Attleboro man who was convicted of a litany of charges related to the rape of a young family member after a three week trial in Fall River Superior Court earlier this autumn, was sentenced to serve 18 to 20 years in state prison Wednesday afternoon, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.

Robert Brien was convicted by a jury of his peers after five hours of jury deliberation in late November. He was specifically convicted of two counts of rape of a child-aggravated by age, two counts of indecent assault and battery on a person under 14, possession of child pornography and incest.

The trial was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Casey Smith and Second Assistant District Attorney Silvia Rudman.

On July 20, 2012 Detective Arthur Brillon of the Attleboro Police Department responded to Sturdy Memorial Hospital regarding the report of a child who had disclosed sexual abuse. Upon arrival he met with the mother of a six-year-old girl, who reported that earlier in the day when she dropped the child off at her grandmother’s house, the grandmother reported that the young girl had made some concerning statements that led her to believe the girl had been sexually assaulted by the defendant on numerous occasions.

During subsequent interviews with the victim, she revealed numerous occasions of rape. When interviewed by police, the defendant also made several admissions about masturbating in front of the child, watching pornography with the child and performing various sex acts on the child.

In addition to the lengthy state prison sentence, Judge Sharon E. Donatelle also placed the defendant on five years of supervised probation to commence upon his release from prison. The conditions of probation include registering as a sex offender and the completion of sex offender counseling. The defendant cannot reside in a home with any children, can have no unsupervised contact with children, cannot accept a job that puts him in contact with children, cannot perform any volunteer activities that may put him in contact with a child and cannot date or enter into any relationship with the parent of a minor child without first getting written permission to do so from the probation department. The defendant must also wear a GPS monitoring device during the entire duration of his post-release probationary term.

‘’I want to thank the jury for convicting the defendant of the repeated sexual assaults on an innocent six-year-old child. He violated the child’s trust and any sense of security she had by engaging in this very despicable and lurid conduct,’’ District Attorney Quinn said. ‘’I want to thank the victim for her perseverance while the case was pending in court. I hope and pray that she can move on with her life. The lengthy state prison sentence imposed by the court was well-deserved.’’

--Bristol County District Attorney's Office

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