Rochester man gets 15 years for years-long sex abuse of minor in N.H., Maine

CONCORD - A Rochester man was sentenced on Thursday to 15 years for sexually exploiting a minor.

Richard Crispin, 26, will also spend 10 years on parole following his release, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Crispin, formerly of 23 Salmon Falls Estates, pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a minor on June 15.

"Sexually exploiting children is a particularly heinous crime," said U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young. "Thanks to the survivor's courage, the defendant will no longer be able to abuse other vulnerable minors."

"Crispin abused and exploited a minor for years, creating videos documenting his abuse and soliciting her to send him even more. It takes real bravery to come forward to report an abuser, and HSI commends this survivor for speaking up. Today's sentence ensures Crispin will be behind bars and unable do harm for a long time," said Michael Krol, Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigations in New England.

According to documents and statements made in court, Crispin engaged in sexual acts with a minor beginning when the minor was 14 years old. The defendant made videos depicting some of these sexual acts, which are the subject of the federal charges. The defendant also requested that the survivor send him sexually explicit images via text message. The offense took place over an extended period of time and came to light when the survivor disclosed her contacts with the defendant to a Somersworth school resource officer. The defendant has pending state charges in both New Hampshire and Maine related to the same survivor.

The victim was just 13 when Crispin, who is nearly 6-feet tall and weighs 220 pounds, grabbed her by the arm, twisted her around and raped her from behind, according to a North Berwick Police Officer's affidavit filed in April 2021.

The victim, according to the affidavit filed by North Berwick Police Lt. Daniel Pelkey, had said no multiple times to sexual advances made toward her by Crispin, formerly of Coffin Road in North Berwick.

A copy of the affidavit obtained by The Rochester Voice lists two gross sex assault charges for sexual activity he is alleged to have had with the girl when she was 13 and 10 sex assault charges after she had turned 14.

Crispin, a military veteran formerly employed at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard with "Secret Clearance," was under two sets of bail conditions for domestic violence at the time of the alleged rape in spring 2019.

The crimes crossed state lines, according to Strafford County Attorneys Office, which said some of the alleged offenses occurred in Somersworth and Rochester.

In all, some 38 indictments were filed against Crispin by a Strafford County grand jury in February 2022.

Among them are three indictments that allege he engaged in a pattern of sexual abuse against the victim over a period of time. Each of those counts carry a 10-30 year prison term.

Crispin in also charged in New Hampshire with 11 counts of manufacturing child sex abuse images between July 2019 and March 2021 "in that he did knowing direct a visual representation of (victim) in sexually explicit conduct."
That conduct is alleged to have included stills and videos showing her genitals, and performing various sex acts on him or herself.
Each of those counts carry a prison sentence of from 15-30 years.

No affidavits were filed with the criminal complaints in New Hampshire, so there is no information available about the nature of the incidents in Somersworth and Rochester.

According to the Berwick Police affidavit, the investigation began after a Somersworth Schools resource officer learned on April 6, 2021, of a "disclosure about multiple sexual assaults." Crispin was arrested the next day.

Homeland Security Investigations led the federal investigation with valuable assistance was provided by Somersworth Police Department, Stratford County Sheriff's Office, Rochester Police Department and North Berwick, Maine Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cam Le and Kasey Weiland prosecuted the case.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the DOJ's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.