Former Freetown Teacher Convicted of Child Rape Charges

FALL RIVER (WBSM) — A former Freetown substitute teacher and Sunday school teacher will be sentenced Wednesday following his conviction this past Monday on numerous charges related to the rape and molestation of a 14-year-old girl.

According to the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office, Gilbert Hernandez, 58, was convicted by a jury after a four-day trial on five counts of rape of a child aggravated by more than a 10-year age difference, two counts of rape of a child by force, four counts of indecent assault and battery, and two counts of dissemination of obscene matter to a child.

The rapes and molestations all occurred between February 2018 and July of 2018 in the towns of Freetown, Raynham, Taunton and Lakeville.

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The D.A.’s Office said Hernandez knew the victim through a close friendship she had with his son, along with his role as a substitute teacher in the Freetown-Lakeville school system and as a Sunday School teacher at a Freetown church.

Crime Rate Statistics in SouthCoast Towns

Here are the crime rate statistics for SouthCoast communities, utilizing data from 2022, the most recent year available. Annual data is from the Massachusetts Crime Statistics. The number of crimes is a data collection of total arrests, DUI/OUI charges, violent crimes, and hate crimes. The clearance rate is the number of charged crimes divided by the total number of crimes recorded. We listed the SouthCoast towns alphabetically.

Gallery Credit: Ariel Dorsey