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Feb 1, 2008 11:30 am US/Central
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Freed Child Rapist Allegedly Attacks Boy In Mass.
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (CBS) ―
A convicted child rapist who was released by a judge even though prosecutors said he was likely to strike again has been charged with raping a 6-year-old boy at a library.
Corey Saunders, 26, was arrested outside a homeless shelter Wednesday evening shortly after the boy was assaulted while the child's mother was using a computer nearby.
The boy's mother did not know her son was being attacked, authorities said. New Bedford police Lt. Jeffry Silva said the boy did not scream because he was so paralyzed by fear. Saunders demanded the boy's address and threatened to rape him again, Silva said.
A librarian who became suspicious when she saw the boy and Saunders together alerted the boy's mother, authorities said.
Saunders, who was convicted in 2001 of child rape and assault and battery on a child, is classified by the state as a Level 3 sex offender, the state's most dangerous designation. He had registered with police, as required by law.
He spent four years behind bars on the 2001 conviction, completing his sentence in December 2006.
"The issue here is whether Corey Saunders should have been allowed out in society or anywhere where children are," said police chief Ronald Teachman.
In July 2003, prior to his release, officials found probable cause to hold him as a sexually dangerous person.
But in 2006, Bristol County Superior Court Judge Richard Moses released him, even though two court-appointed experts said he was sexually dangerous.
Massachusetts law allows judges to commit sex offenders indefinitely if they're found to be dangerous and likely to strike again. But Bristol Superior Court Judge Richard Moses rejected the motion by the Bristol County district attorney's office to hold Saunders. The judge cited Saunders' low IQ, his history of being sexually abused as a child and his lack of sexual offenses while in prison.
Former Bristol district attorney Paul F. Walsh Jr. said he considered Saunders to be one of the 10 most dangerous sex offenders he prosecuted during his 16 years in office.
"He was not just sexually dangerous, but very sexually dangerous," Walsh said. "Everything indicated that. It was just a matter of when and where he was going to strike again."
"It is a tragedy that this took place," said current District Attorney Sam Sutter. "This incident dramatizes exactly why we have a Sexually Dangerous Persons protocol."
Sutter refused to comment about Moses, however, saying it would be inappropriate because he and his administration were not involved in the original case.
Moses is barred from commenting because the case is pending.
Saunders moved into a homeless shelter in the New Bedford area recently and had just registered as a sex offender last week. Level 3 is the most serious designation for sex offenders.
Saunders was arraigned Thursday at New Bedford District Court. He's being held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing to be held on February 7.
It could not immediately be determined who Saunders' lawyer is.
CBS station WBZ-TV in Boston reported that a new computer at the library now displays registered sex offenders as a result of the incident.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)