WPRO News and the Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – A former Rhode Island resident who now lives in Florida has been sentenced to life in prison for molesting a young girl.
Sixty-four-year-old John Cavanaugh of Spring Hill, Florida, was sentenced Friday after a jury found him guilty in November of first-degree sexual assault and four counts of second-degree child molestation.
Prosecutors say Cavanaugh molested the girl, whom he knew, on several occasions in the 1990s when the girl was between the ages of 9 and 15. The assaults took place in Warwick, where Cavanaugh was living.
The victim reported the abuse to Warwick police in 2013. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin says the victim was afraid for years to report the abuse.
Cavanaugh’s public defender, Daniel Ciora, did not return a message seeking comment.
