City man arrested, accused of raping alleged ‘distant relative’ on River Island Park stage
WOONSOCKET — A 46-year-old city man was ordered held at the state prison Monday after police charged him with raping a woman on the stage at River Island Art Park over the weekend.
Randy R. Plasse, of 294 Front St., was arrested at home about 3 a.m. Saturday – a little more than an hour after a 36-year-old woman came to police headquarters to report the crime.
Plasse was charged with one count of domestic first-degree sexual assault. Police said the only reason he was charged under the domestic violence statute is that he is a distant blood relative of the victim. Although Plasse had been a friend of hers for about four years, he and the victim were not previously romantically involved nor were they sharing the same residence – two of the most common parameters for charging a sex crime as a domestic assault.
After reporting the crime to dispatch, the victim was transported to Landmark Medical Center. Police said she had visible bruises on her neck and arms, as well as fingernail scratches on her back that were allegedly caused by Plasse.
In a statement she provided to police at the hospital, the victim said Plasse attacked her shortly after the two of them left Post 62 on Arnold Street, where they had been drinking together. As they were walking through the Bernon Street park, Plasse alleged forced her onto the stage, pushed her down and removed her pants.
The woman told police she may have passed out at that point, but felt sure she’d been raped by Plasse when she came to. She said she recalled telling Plasse repeatedly to stop.
“She advised that the sexual intercourse between them was not consensual and she explained that she had told Randy multiple times to stop,” a police report says. Police also took a statement from another patron of Post 62 who had seen Plasse and the victim leaving together. The witness recalled that there were no bruises on the victim’s body at that time.
Plasse has a criminal record that dates back to the early 1990s and includes at least a half-dozen contacts with law enforcement, mostly on charges of breaking and entering, shoplifting and receiving stolen property, according to the judiciary’s database.
Because he is still on probation from a 2013 conviction for breaking and entering in the nighttime with felonious intent, Plasse was also charged as a violator Monday during a preliminary appearance in Sixth District Court.
A petition for bail was filed on his behalf, but no date has been set for a hearing.