Former Lynn youth worker pleads guilty to child rape

SALEM – Victor Canaan, a former youth worker described by his attorney as a one-time “prominent member of the Hispanic community” in Lynn, pleaded guilty on Monday in Salem Superior Court to child rape and was sentenced to up to six years in state prison.The former Franklin Street resident avoided a trial that would have included evidence, according to a statement from Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett?s office, that Canaan, 62, raped a boy over a six-year period after befriending him in a youth program he was 10.Canaan was “quiet and stoic” during his Monday court appearance, according to his Lynn attorney, Russell Sobelman. The hour-long plea hearing and sentencing included a victim?s statement entered into court records. The victim, now 30, reported the rapes to Lynn police in 2014.?I applaud this brave young man for coming forward. It is not uncommon for child rape victims to delay reporting because of embarrassment, confusion or fear,” said Blodgett.Sobelman said Canaan will remain in the Essex County House of Correction in Middleton for two or three more days before being transferred to Massachusetts Correctional Institute at Cedar Junction, where he will be classified for possible transfer to another prison.Judge John Lu sentenced Canaan to four to six years in prison followed by four years of probation.He ordered Canaan during probation to not be associated with youth programs. He must register as a sex offender, submit to sex offender evaluation and treatment, have no unsupervised contact with children, wear a GPS monitoring device and have no contact with the victim.?Mistakes he made years ago caught up with him,” Sobelman said. “He has accepted responsibility for a crime that occurred many years ago.”Canaan?s arraignment in June 2014 on a child rape charge sparked comments among local Spanish-speaking residents.Familiar at the time as the host of “Latinos,” a local cable television show, Canaan?s involvement in local and Dominican cable television and radio programming and in Lynn community organizations spanned three decades.When the Dominican Republic?s consul to Boston visited Lynn in February 2014, Canaan was one of the local Dominicans welcoming her to Lynn.Canaan worked part-time for Lynn Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development for 17 years, initially as a youth worker. Following his arrest, he was suspended from his most recent job as a management assistant.According to the DA?s statement released Monday, Canaan initially gave the 10-year-old boy money and gifts. When the boy turned 13, Canaan began inviting him to Canaan?s Essex Street home, where he raped him.?This continued until the boy was 16,” the statement said.In the impact statement Assistant District Attorney Jessica Strasnick read in court, the victim stated: “I wish I could hate the defendant for what he has done to me, but I will not allow him or anyone to place hate in my heart. The damage you have caused me is sufficient enough.”?My life has never been the same. Every day is a battle, but now I feel freed from this prison. I hope that one day he can feel in his heart what he had done to mine,” he stated.