Local resident arrested in N.H. on statutory rape charges
Published on August 27th, 2003
STONEHAM, MA - A 24-year-old Stoneham resident was arrested last Wednesday in Atkinson, New Hampshire for statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl.
Thomas Greenlaw, Jr. of 13 Pomeworth Street, was arraigned last Thursday in Salem, NH District Court, pleading not guilty to one felony charge of aggravated sexual assault.
With a probable cause hearing scheduled for this Thursday in Plaistow District Court, Greenlaw remains in police custody after being unable to post his bail, which was set at $250,000, according to Salem District Court Clerk Dick Lemieux and Rockingham County Attorney Brad Bolten, who will prosecute the case.
"Basically, it was a $250,000 cash bail with the standard conditions like no contact with the victim, refraining from the possession of a firearm and the excessive use of alcohol or controlled substances, and that he may not use a computer that has an internet connection," reported Lemieux, explaining that a probable cause hearing will determine whether there's enough evidence to indict Greenlaw by a grand jury.
Although the three police departments involved in the arrest and the county attorney's office remained tight-lipped about the case's specifics, a police report obtained by the Stoneham Independent alleges that Greenlaw waived his Miranda rights and told police officials he met the purported victim on the internet, offering to pay her $100 in exchange for intercourse.
The report, filed by arresting Atkinson police officer John Lapham, also claims that Greenlaw confessed that he realized that the girl was under the age of fourteen upon first meeting the 13-year-old. However, the Stoneham resident reportedly denied that he engaged in any sexual acts with the adolescent.
"He stated that he knew immediately that she was not 18-years-old and guessed that she was 14…Even knowing this, he still allowed her to enter his vehicle. He stated that he did not touch the young girl and if she said he did, it's her word against his," the report read, which also claimed that Greenlaw told police he picked the girl up at a local gas station and that she willingly entered his vehicle.
Yet, according to the adolescent girl's account of the occurrence, she was standing in her yard when Greenlaw approached her and forced her into his vehicle, the police document reports. Although the purported victim allegedly lied to Lapham about her name and date of birth when he first found the two parked behind a commercial lot, she later revealed her true identity to a second police officer arriving on scene, claiming Greenlaw told her to give Lapham a false name, according to the report.
Greenlaw, who faces four additional felony counts of larceny by false pretense and a slew of other charges stemming from two arrests last January and this past August, most recently defrauded $625 from an Internet user looking to purchase a laptop computer, says Stoneham Police Detective Robert McKinnon.
According to McKinnon, the 24-year-old has allegedly scammed at least $40,000 from Yahoo and Ebay Auction users in fraudulent transactions over the past year-and-a-half.
Posting a refund-policy at times from a closed bank account to reassure buyers wary of his auctions and avoiding detection by using library computers, which have their internet records erased on a regular basis, Greenlaw has been warned various times by McKinnon and other police officials to cease his illegal Internet activities, the detective added.
Despite Greenlaw's purported confession that he used the computer to first meet the alleged victim, McKinnon claimed the Stoneham Police were not investigating any similar complaints against the Pomeworth Street resident. In fact, the detective seemed surprised at the recent charges.
"I really didn't see any indication of this...It's kind of shocking. Now that I think about it I'm not that surprised, but I didn't expect anything like this," commented McKinnon, who said additional fraud charges against Greenlaw were likely to surface in upcoming weeks.
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