Former police officer draws prison sentence Carlos Bones sexually abused 14-year-old baby sitter

BANGOR – A former Pleasant Point police officer was sentenced Wednesday in Penobscot County Superior Court to four years in prison with all but 21/2 years suspended for sexually abusing his 14-year-old baby sitter.

Carlos Bones, 40, was convicted in September of three counts of sexual abuse of a minor by a Washington County Superior Court jury after a two-day trial. The jury of three women and nine men found Bones not guilty of three counts of gross sexual assault.

The sentencing was held in Bangor because Superior Court Justice Joseph Jabar, who presided over the trial, was scheduled to preside in Penobscot County during December.

Bones faced a maximum sentence of five years per count.

Jabar on Wednesday criticized the former police officer for showing no concern for the victim.

“The jury has spoken in the case,” the justice said. “You continue to indicate that you didn’t do it, but the DNA evidence was certainly compelling. … In sexual abuse of a minor, there really is no such thing as consent. … [In this case] there was no force used, but I don’t know how you could have committed it any more seriously than you did as a police officer.”

The victim, who attends the Goodwill Hinckley School in Fairfield, and her mother gave written statements to the judge but did not speak at the proceeding.

Bones, who has been living in Fairfield, continued Wednesday to maintain his innocence. His attorney, Frank Cassidy of Machias, filed a notice of appeal after the sentencing.

“I want a chance to rebuild my life that’s been torn apart, and raise my kids,” Bones told Jabar.

Bones has four children by three women.

Paul Cavanaugh, a Washington County prosecutor, urged the judge to sentence Bones to a total of 101/2 years in jail with all but three years suspended.

“I think that four years for the activity he did is an appropriate sentence,” Cavanaugh said after the sentencing. “Adults that take advantage of children, even if they are teen-agers, will be held accountable.

“This is another strong victim that stood up for herself,” he said.

The abuse occurred in Bones’ apartment in Dennysville on Dec. 23, 2003, and on Jan. 5 and Jan. 18, 2004, at his fiancee’s home at Pleasant Point, according to Cavanaugh.

On Jan. 5, Bones took the girl and his young son in his police cruiser to his apartment where he kissed and fondled the teenager and asked for oral sex. The following month, at Bones’ request, she performed oral sex, but retained evidence of the act on her T-shirt.

Two weeks later, the former police officer again tried to get the girl to perform oral sex, but they were interrupted when the girl’s mother, who lived nearby, knocked on the door wanting to borrow some cigarettes.

At the trial in September, defense attorney Cassidy said the teenager was fascinated with Bones and even went to the extreme of wearing some of his shirts. Cassidy said the defendant did not deny that the semen on the shirt was his but said it got there as a result of his cleaning up after having had sex with his fiancee. Cassidy told the jury Bones believed the girl took the shirt.

Cavanaugh said Wednesday that the crime lab had shown that Bones’ semen was on the shirt but found no evidence of the fiancee’s DNA.

Jabar also sentenced Bones to four years probation with conditions that include no contact with females under the age of 18 except relatives, registration as a sex offender, and counseling. He also denied a request to stay the imposition of sentence so that Bones could undergo surgery.

The justice ruled that Bones could be free on bail pending appeal but increased his pre-trial bail from $25,000 surety and $2,500 cash to $100,000 surety and $10,000 cash. Bones spent four months in the Washington County Jail after his arrest in January before he was able to make bail last year.