Swansea man pleads guilty to child rape, drug and gun charges

SWANSEA, Mass. (WLNE) — A 21-year-old Swansea man was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to a slew of indictments including child rape, drug trafficking, and illegal gun charges.

The Bristol County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday that Joshua Andrade pled guilty to 16 separate indictments last week.

He will serve eight to 12 years in state prison.

“The defendant was trafficking in large amounts of different drugs. He raped a teenage runaway and was in possession of an illegal gun,” said District Attorney Thomas Quinn. “It is very discouraging, given the defendants young age, that he is involved in such serious criminal activity. He clearly poses a significant danger to the community.”

The 15-year-old victim told the Department of Children, Youth, and Families she was raped last December. She said it happened over the summer, when she was living with a foster family in Fall River.

She and Andrade met on social media. Prosecutors said he sent her photos of drugs and guns that he kept in his Wilber Avenue home.

In June, Andrade asked her to come over and smoke with him.

Prosecutors said he raped her and took videos of the abuse, as well as photos that he sent to people on social media.

Police obtained a search warrant for his home and found illegal guns and ammunition, nearly 40 ounces of marijuana, 21 packages of suboxone, 900 grams of methamphetamine pills, 405 grams of pressed fentanyl pills, 50 grams of powdered cocaine, 447 grams of psilocybin mushrooms, 3.19 grams of oxycodone, and 106 grams of Alprazolam.

They also found nearly $7,000 in cash, several phones and iPads, and drug paraphernalia.