Few criminal offenses are more jarring than those committed against minors, a scenario made all the more appalling when the person accused of committing them has been a prominent member of the legal and political communities.
As the Daily Caller reports, it was revealed this week that Robert LeBlanc of Methuen, Massachusetts, a longtime attorney, public official, and now-resigned member of the Democratic State Committee, has been charged with multiple sex offenses after years of rumors regarding inappropriate conduct.
The charges leveled against LeBlanc, 80, were announced on Wednesday by the Essex County Office of the District Attorney.
According to a prosecution press release, LeBlanc was arraigned in Salem's Superior Court on multiple counts related to “child rape and indecent assault.”
LeBlanc has been charged with “rape of a child, indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, two counts of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older and attempt to commit crime -- indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older.”
For his part, LeBlanc pleaded not guilty to the aforementioned charges.
As NBC 10 in Boston noted, prosecutors did not ask that monetary terms of bail be imposed, though they did ask for a series of conditions related to LeBlanc's status to which his defense attorney agreed.
According to the Eagle-Tribune, LeBlanc has a lengthy history of public-facing roles, including his work as an attorney.
LeBlanc was the Methuen town manager from 1976-1981, served two terms as an at-large city councilor in the 1980s, and he also worked as a lawyer for the Massachusetts Democratic Party.
Though he sought an at-large councilor spot again in 2013, LeBlanc was defeated as sexual misconduct allegations began to surface.
Allegations against LeBlanc included claims that he “stalked” and propositioned a student at Greater Lawrence Technical School, resulting in a ban on his return to campus property.
In 2002, LeBlanc was sent a letter informing him of a similar ban at a Barnes & Noble bookstore stemming from an incident in which a customer said he was followed into a restroom by the former public official, who was alleged to have stationed himself near a urinal and touched himself inappropriately.
After the aforementioned charges were issued, LeBlanc was ordered to report to the Methuen Police Department for booking, and he was also instructed not to have any contact with victims or witnesses in the case or any unsupervised contact with individuals under the age of 18.
A pretrial hearing for LeBlanc is now scheduled for May 20, when additional details of the accusations against him are likely to emerge.
