Man pleads guilty to attack of girl, Revere family

REVERE – Eric Morale, 30, of Dorchester, pleaded guilty on Friday to an 18-count indictment charging him with multiple counts of rape, robbery and kidnapping stemming from an incident that began in Boston and ended in Revere in 2006.In all, Morale pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated rape, two counts of rape of a child, five counts each of kidnapping and armed robbery, and single counts of burglary, assault with a dangerous weapon, and unlawful possession of a firearm – all from a terrifying incident that began in Hyde Park on July 5, 2006, and ended in Revere later that morning.Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said Morale chose to plead guilty on the day his trial was set to begin, choosing up to 25 years in state prison instead of taking his chances with a jury.Suffolk Superior Court Judge Charles Spurlock sentenced Morale to a term of 15 to 20 years in state prison.Spurlock ordered that the sentence begin after Morale completes the four to five year term he is serving for violating his probation on a 2002 drunken driving charge by committing these offenses, and further ordered that he serve five years of probation upon his release.Under the terms of that probation, Morale must wear a GPS monitoring bracelet, register as a sex offender, undergo drug and alcohol evaluation and treatment, stay away from Revere Beach, and have no contact with the victims.Had Morale’s case proceeded to trial, First Assistant District Attorney Josh Wall would have introduced evidence and testimony to prove that Morale abducted a 17-year-old girl from Hyde Park on the night of July 4, forcing her at gunpoint into a car driven by an accomplice. The identity of that accomplice remains unknown.Morale physically and sexually assaulted the girl inside the car, at one point putting the gun in her mouth.They demanded that she take them to a home from which they could steal cash and jewelry.The victim, who was not a Boston resident, did not know the area or anywhere to take her captors.Alone with the men, being beaten and held at gunpoint, and in extreme fear, the victim directed Morale and the accomplice to a home on Rice Avenue in Revere’s Point of Pines.Morale and his accomplice forced the victim to accompany them into the home, which they entered through a window. Once inside, they attacked and beat the residents – an adult female, her teenage daughter, and two visiting female friends – while demanding money, jewelry and drugs.In addition to assaulting all four occupants of the home with a gun, Morale and his accomplice raped the visiting teenage girls, both 14 years old at the time.In the course of the events, the initial 17-year-old victim was able to flee the home and call for help from a neighbor’s house.Morale and his accomplice fled the house as Revere police closed in. Both were arrested by Boston police on July 7 in Dorchester amid a fast breaking investigation led by State Police detectives assigned to Conley’s office.Some of the victim’s jewelry was sold to a South End pawnshop. The gun used in the incident has not been recovered, nor was DNA retrieved from the crime scene.Despite Morale’s guilty plea, Conley said, “No sentence will restore calm or peace to these victims’ minds.””We can only hope that this long state prison term and the defendant’s own admissions of guilt can, someday, give them some satisfaction,” he said. “If nothing else, it assures them that he will remain behind bars for a very long time to come.”Attorney Arnold Abelow represented Morale at trial.