Lynn pair plead guilty to rape

LAWRENCE – A Lynn couple who were about to go on trial facing rape and sexual assault charges on a 14-year-old girl instead opted to plead guilty and received five to seven years in state prison.Angel Rivera Aponte, also known as Victor Sanchez Laboy, 45, homeless, and Carmen Ruiz Charon, 31, of 224 Fayette St., #3, Lynn, made their pleas in Lawrence Superior Court in a deal worked out by the prosecutor and their attorneys.Their confessions late Thursday afternoon came just as jury selection was nearly completed.They each pleaded guilty to four counts of rape of a child with force as well as two counts of open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior.Judge Richard E. Welch III agreed to adopt the joint recommended punishment proposed by Assistant District Attorney Marsha H. Slingerland and defense lawyers William A. Korman and John P. Morris, respectively.A then 14-year-old girl told authorities that sometime in November or December of 2009 she was forced to have unnatural sexual intercourse at her home on Fayette Street in Lynn.The victim, now 16, told the judge during the sentence that “it still hurts her,” what they did to her.Aponte is expected to be deported back to his native country, the Dominican Republic, Slingerland said.They have been held in custody in lieu of bail since their arrest and will receive credit for that time toward their term of incarceration.An Essex County grand jury indicted the couple in April of 2010.