Boston Fugitive Child Rapist Found Guilty (Again)

BOSTON, MA — After spending more than 20 years on the run, a Dorchester man who ran away to North Carolina has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two children in the 1990s, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced today.

A Suffolk Superior Court jury this afternoon found John J. Hartin, 48, guilty of five counts of rape of a child – indictments he fled after they were returned by a grand jury in 1993 when the man was 23.

He was arrested in 2016 after police found him again. The man had lived in Florida and North Carolina under the name Jay Matthew Carter, using a fake Social Security number, officials said.

During the course of a trial this week, Assistant District Attorney Alissa Goldhaber of the DA’s Child Protection Unit presented evidence and testimony to prove that Hartin sexually assaulted two children during 1991 and 1992 when the victims were ages 6 and 9. At the time of the abuse, Hartin was in a romantic relationship with a relative of one of the boys; the second boy was a friend of that child.

Based on the children’s disclosures and additional evidence collected at the time, Suffolk prosecutors secured indictments against Hartin on July 16, 1993. Rather than facing the criminal charges against him, however, Hartin he took off.

Hartin remained a fugitive until 2016, when renewed efforts by Boston Police, Suffolk prosecutors, FBI, and US Marshals resulted in information that led to Hartin’s capture in North Carolina, where he had been living under the fake name. He told police at the time of his arrest that he'd turned around and was a different person, according to multiple reports.

“Child sexual assault inflicts a unique and terrible harm on its victims,” Conley said. “No matter how many years go by, no matter how far the offender might run, survivors may still feel a part of themselves trapped and afraid. Our commitment to them does not waver with time, and I hope they take some small comfort in knowing their disclosures helped us hold this defendant accountable.”

He faces sentencing Tuesday.

Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch