A Connecticut man found guilty of abusing a young girl in his care for more than a decade, at one point getting her pregnant, has been ordered to serve 25 years in prison.
Roger Barriault, who did not to speak at his sentencing hearing on Thursday, was arrested last year. In September, he pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault, NBC Connecticut reported.
The victim, publicly identified by her first name Crystal, said the assaults began when she was 9 years old and continued until she ran away from Barriault’s home at age 20. When she was 12, Barriault, her legal guardian, got her pregnant.
Police said a DNA test proved him to be the father of the child.
Now 29 years old, Crystal recalled how she was raped by Barriault on a near-daily basis. In total, she believes she was assaulted more than 3,600 times between 2004 and 2015.
“This is not a joyful moment for her, it’s not one of victory but it’s one of conclusion, for sure,” Crystal’s attorney, Nate Baber, told Fox 61.
“It feels like justice has been done, [but] for so long it hasn’t, whether it’s different agencies within the state of Connecticut that have let her down, her family members and his family members that have let her down,” he continued. “Now is a reckoning, that’s what it feels like for her.”
According to an Office of the Child Advocate report, the agency became aware of the abuse allegations in February 2024. Upon investigation, it determined there were “missed opportunities” to intervene, adding that despite numerous reports, the Department of Children and Families “did not contact the police to alert them to the allegations.”
Barriault’s wife, Darlene, was also arrested and charged with risk of injury to a minor. Crystal said she told Darlene about the assaults when she was 11, but she did not react.
Darlene pleaded guilty to the charge last month and is due to be sentenced in January.
