Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog
We all know that participating in a sexual assault is illegal. In fact, if you are a joint venturer with someone who is involved with sexual assault, you may be held to be as guilty as the actual assailant, even if you never touch the victim.
In Lynn, we just had a fairly interesting case that takes it to a step further. It also combines sexual assault with crimes involving child pornography.
Timothy Cyckowski is a 19-year-old young man from Saugus. He is also hereinafter, the, “Defendant”. On Monday, he pleaded guilty to sharing on the social network Snapchat a video which depicted what is described as the sexual assault of an intoxicated 16-year-old girl.
At the hearing in Lynn Juvenile Court, the Essex County District Attorney’s office explains, the Defendant has admitted his role in sharing the video. He had been accused of recording the attack. He pleaded guilty to posing a child in the nude, dissemination of obscene material, and kidnapping.
According to the Boston Globe, the court ordered the Defendant committed to the custody of the Department of Youth Services until he turns 20. He will then be placed on probation for four additional years.
When the case was in an earlier stage, when the Commonwealth argued that the Defendant be held in custody without bail, the Commonwealth took a bit of a tougher position.
The Commonwealth argued that while two adults sexually assaulted the girl behind a Saugus school, the Defendant, then 17 years of age, was there, “cheering on” what was happening, recording it, and disseminating the video clips on Snapchat.
The videos were then widely distributed. According to that earlier coverage by the Boston Globe, the Defendant was then held without bail as a dangerous person and was facing charges of kidnapping, two counts of assault to rape, and posing a child in a state of nudity.
Not that it could have been “non-serious”, but the condition of girl in the video is said to have been extremely serious. Even life-threatening.
Prosecutors have said that the girl in the video would have likely died as a result of the attack if not for the actions of a female witness who received at least four Snapchat clips and alerted police. The woman captured screenshots of the video clips, which disappear within seconds of being sent, and somehow persuaded the Defendant to disclose his location behind Waybright Elementary School, prosecutors say.
The girl was so intoxicated with alcohol and marijuana that she could not speak or stand up and had injuries on her body from her neck down, including a ligature mark on her throat and a bite mark on her breast, according to prosecutors. She had no memory of what happened at the time.
The Commonwealth also argued that, “We can say with certainty that while each and every of those videos was being made [the Defendant] was present, actively participating, and disseminating what he was seeing.”
The two adult defendants are awaiting trial. The Saugus youths are both charged with kidnapping, posing a child in the nude, assault to rape, and indecent assault and battery.
The Defendant’s father is also facing criminal charges in the matter. 37-year-old Matthew Cyckowski has been indicted on one count of misleading police. Prosecutors allege the elder Cyckowski got rid of the cellphone that could link his son to the alleged sex assault. The Commonwealth says that when the police requested his son’s cellphone, the father turned over his own phone, saying it belonged to his son. Prior to handing in the phone, he allegedly transferred his son’s telephone number to his own phone, according to prosecutors.
Attorney Sam’s Take Conspiracy, Participation And Encouragement
There are a great many issues that are noteworthy in this story which deserve our attention.
Or, more to the point, you deserve to understand them.
I will do my best to sort them out for you…in my next posting.
