Taunton man convicted of sexually assaulting, molesting girlfriend’s relative

TAUNTON, Mass. (WLNE) — A Taunton man was convicted Friday of sexually assaulting and molesting his girlfriend’s relative.

District Attorney Thomas Quinn said Joel Carrion Mercado was convicted las week of two counts of rape of a child and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14.

Quinn said the minor was the only witness in the case and testified the two incidents that happened in 2020, when he came into her bedroom and assaulted her, and then again in 2021.

She later told a friend. That friend, Quinn said, told the girl’s biological father who immediately reported it to Taunton police.

Mercado, 38, was sentenced to the maximum two-and-a-half years in the House of Corrections and placed him on supervised probation for an additional three years.