Crime

St. Croix Man Sentenced To 40 Years For Rape

ST. CROIX -- Forty years in prison – with credit for 2,765 days already served – was the sentence V.I. Superior Court Judge Douglas A. Brady handed down today on Rafael Joseph for sexually assaulting a woman more than seven years ago, according to a release Department of Justice Public Media Officer Corliss Smithen issued Wednesday. In a brief statement following the sentencing, Attorney General Claude Earl Walker said, “The defendant put this brave lady through hell – he is every woman’s nightmare – and with this lengthy prison sentence, his reign of terror against our women ends today.” Joseph, 44, was punished for first-degree aggravated rape, a charge to which he pleaded guilty. At Joseph’s sentencing, prosecutors characterized him as a “sexual predator, serial rapist and a danger to the community,” and recommended that he serve 50 years behind bars, according to D.O.J. According to the release, police arrested Joseph on Feb. 17, 2011, after a woman complained that he raped her fou...