A Dorchester woman was sentenced to prison after she was convicted of kidnapping, threatening and assaulting a boy twice at gunpoint years ago, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office said.
Judge Debra Squires-Lee sentenced Charlese Horton, 47, to a minimum of 25 years and no more than 35 years in prison, followed by five years of probation, Hayden’s office said.
A Level 3 sex offender, Horton was found guilty of two counts of aggravated kidnapping, one count of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, one count of threats, two counts of possession of a firearm, one count of possession of ammunition, two counts of possession of a large-capacity feeding device, and two counts of improper storage of a firearm.
The boy, now a 20-year-old man, delivered an impact statement that was read in court by Assistant District Attorney Laura Montgomery.
“Since being victimized, I haven’t been the same,” the man’s statement read. “I dropped out of school when I was 15. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. I became a shell of who I was. For years, I struggled to do the things most people take for granted, getting out of bed, being around people, feeling safe…
“I had to be brave and speak not just for myself, but for the others who weren’t able to testify or speak out,” he wrote. “I carry their pain with mine, and I pray for healing, for all of us who were hurt, silenced and forever changed.”
In Hayden’s statement, Squires-Lee called the man brave for testifying in court, and said he will “find [his] way forward because I saw that bravery.”
“This victim showed enormous courage by coming before a jury and talking about an incident that, in his compelling words, caused him deep and lasting harm,” Hayden said in the statement. “I thank him for everything he did to help move this case forward and I’m grateful for the work of prosecutors, investigators and victim-witness advocates in securing this verdict and sentence.”
Boston police initially opened an investigation after on April 14, 2020, boy and his mother reported that a suspect who had friended the boy on Facebook, MassLive reported at the time.
“The victim stated the suspect had friended him on Facebook and began messaging him constantly demanding he remove certain individuals from his page,” police said at the time. “The victim stated he began ignoring the suspect who responded that the suspect knew where the victim lived and that the suspect would send someone to hurt the victim.”
Horton kidnapped the 14-year-old boy twice, once in October 2019 and then in February 2020, both times at gunpoint, Hayden’s office said. The boy told officers that his kidnapper wore “a distinctive hat with a marijuana leaf on the front, among other identifying details,” the statement read.
After identifying Horton based on surveillance images and items found in her vehicle and apartment, she was arrested.
