Jun. 14—BOSTON — An Auburn, Maine man will spend three years on probation for sexually assaulting a former Auburn woman in 2018 at a hotel in Massachusetts.

Charles J. Bergeron, 33, appeared in Suffolk County Superior Court on Friday where he pleaded guilty to indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older, a crime that is punishable by up to five years in state prison.

While on probation, Bergeron is barred from having any contact with the woman or her family.

The more serious charge of rape against Bergeron twice resulted in hung juries.

Suffolk County prosecutor Erin Murphy said Friday that on Nov. 10, 2018, the victim was in Boston visiting her older brother and they went to a bar in Boston where they met up with some of his friends.

She became intoxicated at the bar and had no memory of events that night, Murphy said.

The next morning, the woman woke up next to an older, unknown male stranger in a hotel room, Murphy said.

The woman went to an area hospital where she underwent a sexual assault examination and evidence collection. She also spoke with Boston police, Murphy said.

In surveillance video obtained by police, the woman is shown arriving by car at the hotel with Bergeron, entering the building and going to his room, Murphy said.

Video “shows that (the woman) had difficulty walking into the hotel room, even falling down in the hallway near the defendant’s room,” Murphy said.

Bergeron sexually assaulted the woman, according to evidence collection and crime lab analysis, “while she was unable to consent due to intoxication,” Murphy said.

Video shows the two leaving his room about a half-hour later, the woman still intoxicated, Murphy said.

“The defendant is admitting to the facts I set forth, but does not admit to the additional elements that he knew or reasonably should have known that (the woman) was too incapacitated to consent, which is a necessary element of the greater offense of rape,” Murphy said.

The woman wrote a letter to the court describing the devastating impact the crime had on her life.

She wrote that Bergeron was married at the time of the assault and “knew that I did not want to have a sexual relationship with him.”

Before the assault, she wrote, “I was happy. I was confident. I was an extrovert and outgoing by nature. I had close friends. I was working as a model — doing runway, promotional and print work. If there is any career that requires confidence, it is modeling. I was also planning to attend nursing school. I was fearless and hopeful.”

But in the six years since that time, “I stopped modeling, disappeared into baggy clothing and lost the confidence that is both rare and valuable for young women,” she wrote.

“I lost friends because I withdrew — avoiding everyone. Shortly after the sexual assault, my family gathered for Thanksgiving. I was in such shock from the assault — which my family did not know about — that I told them I had to work and cried for hours on the beach alone. I repeated this for Christmas.

“I have tried to overcome my depression and anxiety by working with therapists and doctors. The cost of this is overwhelming — both financially and emotionally. The list of medications I have taken to help me heal is staggering,” she wrote.

“I have graphic nightmares nearly every night. My new normal consists of panic attacks from the smallest triggers, sleepless nights, and constant fear. There have been periods where I was so depressed I have not been able to get out of bed or shower. I never saw a therapist or psychiatrist before I was sexually assaulted, but I know now that I will need this care likely for the rest of my life,” she wrote.

While Bergeron has moved on with his life, having a child and buying a home, the victim wrote that she has missed weddings, baby showers, bachelorette parties and other events “because of my fear and depression. My work history has been sporadic. I often feel like I am watching life go by from the sidelines — stuck with no forward momentum in my life as I watch my friends marry, have children, and establish their careers.”

She wrote that her life completely changed that morning she woke up in Boston and that it has been difficult since then to find any joy in the world.

Bergeron’s attorney, Ingrid Martin, told Suffolk County Superior Court Associate Justice Michael Doolin that her client has been married for eight years and has a 5-year-old daughter and is expecting a second child.

He works at a commercial construction company as a project manager and is “very involved” in the community, Martin said.

Bergeron had no prior criminal record, she said.

“There is no possibility — there is no risk that our client is going to reoffend,” she said.

She said Bergeron and the victim had had a sexual relationship before the night of the crime.

On Nov. 10, 2018, he was in Boston for a hockey game with his brother and friends where he drank alcohol before and during the game, she said.

Bergeron met up with a group that included the woman later at a bar, she said.

“Obviously, alcohol had a lot to do with that evening and our client has taken that to heart,” she said. “He is married. His wife was expecting at the time. It has been brutal for them.”

Martin said the charges against her client have been “widely publicized in the local newspaper where he lives. He is separately the subject of a civil lawsuit. So, your honor, a lesson has been taught — by life, by the media, by the experience of going through two trials.”

Bergeron won’t be required to register as a sex offender, according to the plea agreement.

Justice Doolin called the crime a “very tragic event.”

He said, “What happened here is terrible, terrible thing for the poor victim in this case. It’s just an awful experience that she got to go through.”

The judge told Bergeron, “I also think you have to really consider your relationship with alcohol and the role that that played here and that might be something going forward you want to think about. Alcohol leads people who might otherwise be decent citizens into terrible situations and terrible activity and terrible actions.”

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