A Massachusetts police officer was found guilty Tuesday of raping a child.
Carlos Vieira, 53, was arrested in February of 2019. Authorities said the officer with the Lawrence Police Department raped a 13-year-old boy he met on Grindr, a dating app, in the summer of 2018.
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The victim's mother reported the incident to the Essex County District Attorney's Office when she learned of it in January of 2019.
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Vieira was convicted in Salem Superior Court of two counts of aggravated rape of a child and a charge of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.
"The facts and circumstances surrounding this case are extremely troubling," Lawrence Police Chief Roy Vasque said in a statement shared by the district attorney's office. "It is our hope that this verdict will give the victim and his family a sense of closure as they continue with the healing process."
When he was arrested, Vieira had been with the Lawrence Police Department for 19 years. Prosecutors argued at the time that he was a threat to the community who owned several unregistered guns.
