Massachusetts

Man Changes Plea in Bridgewater State University Day Care Sex Abuse Case

A Massachusetts man is pleading guilty to sexually assaulting children while he worked at Bridgewater State University's day care in 2015.

The Plymouth district attorney's office announced Kyle P. Loughlin, 22, of Wrentham, pleaded guilty on Friday to two counts of rape and abuse of a child, three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child and one count of larceny.

He was sentenced to seven and a half years in jail with 10 years of probation.

Loughlin was arrested in April 2015 after staff came forward to police with complaints.

Investigators say Loughlin digitally penetrated two boys between the ages of 4 and 5 at the university's day care center. The district attorney's office said Loughlin's plea change will prevent the children from being called as witnesses.

"Today's resolution is in the best interest of these children and their families and prevents these youngsters from further being victimized at trial," District Attorney Timothy Cruz said in a statement.

Authorities also investigated whether Loughlin had additional victims.

Under his plea deal, Loughlin's conditions for probation will include him registering as a sex offender, complete treatment, wear a GPS monitoring bracelet, and will require him to stay away from his victims and have no unsupervised contact with children under 16.

The former director of the day care, 55-year-old Judith Ritacco of Boylston, was also charged with reckless endangerment of children, failure to report child abuse, and witness intimidation/interfering with an investigation. Her trial is slated to start April 18.

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