A young woman has sued the commonwealth of Massachusetts in federal court, saying she has been forced into a 16-year legal relationship with a man who fathered her child and has pleaded guilty to statutory rape.
The woman, now 19, identified only as “H.T.” in court documents, was 14 when she had sexual relations with then-20-year-old Jaime Melendez, according to court documents.
Melendez pleaded guilty to four counts of statutory rape in 2011 and was sentenced to 16 years probation.
A condition of that probation was that Melendez pay $110 a week in child support payments to family court.
Melendez recently told family court officials that he wanted visitation rights if he had to pay child support.
The child’s mother has said she wants no contact with him and does not want her daughter to have contact with him either.
He also has offered to withdraw his visitation request if the child support payments are set aside.
An earlier state-level effort by the mother voicing similar concerns was rejected by a state judge.
The federal action, filed last week, seeks to change the condition of his probation to eliminate the family court provisions, the woman’s attorney, Wendy Murphy, told the Daily News Monday.
“This is not a family, it’s felony,” said Murphy. “You don’t reward a rapist with the privilege of a family.”
Instead of child support payments, Murphy said, financial support should come in the form of restitution ordered by a criminal court.
The young woman said she felt intimidated into having sex with Melendez, who visited her home while the girl’s mother was at work.
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