A Boston-based Internal Revenue Service agent convicted of raping a college intern at gunpoint in 2017 was sentenced to seven to eight years in prison Tuesday.
James Clarke, 45, dropped his head into his hands when the sentence was delivered at Suffolk Superior Court.
Clarke was convicted by a Suffolk County jury last month of aggravated rape, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and indecent assault and battery in the July 2017 assault of a 21-year-old woman, the Boston Globe reported.
Clarke invited the victim for drinks after work where he handcuffed her inside his parked government-issued car, assaulted her with his service firearm and forced her to engage in sexual acts, prosecutors said.
After the assault, officials said Clarke left the woman at a bus and train station, where she called police, and was transported to a hospital.
Surveillance footage from the area showed her struggling to walk, crying as she is on her phone calling a friend.
Prosecutors said the woman's DNA profile was found on the gun.
The victim took the stand during the hearing, describing the "pure shock" and mistrust she felt in the hours after the assault. But she also noted that she managed to get through her last year of college and graduate with a 4.0 GPA.
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"James Clarke didn’t and will never stop me from pursuing what I set out to do," she said.
At one point, she said she hoped Clarke's son never grows up to be like him, prompting one of Clarke's family members to walk out of the court room shouting, "Shame on you!" The victim continued with her testimony.
Clarke testified that the encounter was consensual, which his attorney noted during the defense's portion of Tuesday's hearing. The attorney said that Clarke had too much to drink that night, just as the victim did, and noted that, when she talked to the police she said she understood why he might have thought it was consensual.
The IRS placed Clarke on leave after he was indicted in March 2018.
