Ghana Man charged with rape

North Attleboro, MA, USA - Police say a 33-year-old Worcester man met a local girl on the MySpace.com Web site a year ago when she was just 14 and twice had sex with her after buying her gifts and taking her to the movies.

Richard Acquaye, a married father with four children, wept as he pleaded innocent Friday in Attleboro District Court to charges of statutory rape, rape of a child by force, indecent assault and battery and enticing a person for the purposes of sexual intercourse.

Judge Gregory L. Phillips ordered Acquaye, a native of Ghana in West Africa and a U.S. citizen, held in jail on $50,000 cash bail after hearing bail arguments. The judge also ordered him to have no contact with the girl.

Authorities learned about the alleged relationship after police responded about 5 a.m. to a call regarding two people in a suspicious car parked outside a house in a residential neighborhood.

Officers Thomas McCafferty and Jason Roy found the girl, now 15, in the car with Acquaye, who was arrested after a subsequent investigation by detectives Daniel Arrighi and Michael Elliott.

Police seized computer equipment from the defendant's car, in addition to his cell phone and passport. Police also have the girl's lap top computer and cell phone and are investigating what is contained in the equipment, Detective Lt. David Dawes said.

Police are also investigating an alleged incident at a Plainville motel involving Acquaye and the girl, Dawes said.

Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Clark said Acquaye told the girl he was 19 before she learned he was actually 33 and married with four children. The girl told him she was 14 when the initial communication via computer was made and then met with him four or five times, Clark said.

Acquaye allegedly bought the girl a compact disc for Christmas and took her to the movies at Showcase Cinemas during the alleged relationship, according to police.

Dawes said the charges are the first sex offenses against Acquaye they are aware of.

Attleboro defense lawyer Jennifer Lokitis said Acquaye admits to knowing the girl, "but denies there was any kind of sexual abuse or contact with the child."

Lokitis said Acquaye's sister and brother-in-law were in court to support him, despite the allegations.

They declined to comment when approached by The Sun Chronicle.

Acquaye is due back in court Jan. 26 for a pretrial hearing.

The Web site MySpace.com as well as Internet chat rooms have often been in the news for similar types of cases throughout the country.

Dawes said children and computers are more often becoming a dangerous mix when it involves communication with strangers via the Internet.

"Parents have to understand that they really have to watch their children," Dawes said. "There are men like this guy who prey on these young girls and boys."

Dawes' concerns are borne out by the latest online victimization research by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

According to the group, about one in seven 10- to 17-years-olds online have received a sexual solicitation or approach over the Internet.

Four percent received an aggressive sexual solicitation in which the person asked to meet them somewhere, called them on the telephone or sent them mail, money or gifts.

Thirty-four percent of the children were exposed to unwanted sexual material, such as photographs.

Less than half of the children told a parent or guardian when they encountered unwanted sexual material, the organization reports.