Swansea man pleads guilty to child rape, child porn charges

A 21-year-old Swansea man has pleaded guilty to raping a child and other charges stemming from a June 2022 incident, the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday. 

Joshua Andrade pleaded guilty last week to charges including three counts of rape of a child, one count of possession of child pornography, one count of criminal contempt, and 11 other drug and gun charges, the DA’s office said in a press release. 

Police began investigating Andrade in December 2022 after the victim, who was 15 years old at the time, disclosed to a state Department of Children and Families worker that she had been raped, the DA’s office said. 

In the summer of 2022, the victim was living with her foster mother in Fall River. She met and communicated with Andrade over social media, and he told her he sold drugs, the DA’s office said. 

According to officials, Andrade eventually invited the victim over to his home to smoke marijuana. Once she was there, he pressured and forced her to have sex with him three times despite her repeated protests and the fact that she was drunk, high on marijuana, and in one instance, asleep. He also took a photo and video of the incidents, officials said.

In December 2022, police obtained a search warrant for Andrade’s home and seized his phone and bedding, the DA’s office said. At the home, they found an inoperable handgun with a large capacity feeding device, ammunition, drug dealing supplies, nearly $7,000 in cash, and a variety of drugs. 

Police were also able to track down the photo of the sexual assault that Andrade had shared on social media, the DA’s office said. 

Andrade has been sentenced to eight to 12 years in state prison.

“It is very discouraging, given the defendant’s young age, that he is involved in such serious criminal activity,” Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III said in the release. “He clearly poses a significant danger to the community. This sentence is necessary to protect the public from him.”