Victor Pena, man convicted in Boston kidnapping, rape case, sentenced

By WCVB Staff

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    BOSTON (WCVB) — A man convicted of kidnapping a woman and raping her for several days in his Charlestown apartment learned Monday he will spend the next several decades in prison.

Victor Pena, 42, was charged with kidnapping and 10 counts of aggravated rape for allegedly holding the 23-year-old woman against her will and sexually assaulting her for three days at his Walford Way home in January 2019.

After six days of testimony and evidence, the jury needed just two hours of deliberations to return guilty verdicts on all counts.

Prosecutors said the state asked for a “murder type” sentence because the kidnapping and rape “really does murder someone.”

“Why are we asking for essentially a murder-type sentence? Because a kidnapping and rape episode like this really does murder part of a person,” prosecutor Ian Polumbaum said.

Pena was sentenced to 29 to 39 years in prison by Judge Anthony Campo.

“The rapes occurred in every possible way that a victim can be raped as defined by law. all while being held hostage by you under lock and key,” Campo said as he delivered his sentence.

While Pena was not in the courtroom for sentencing, the victim was. A written victim impact statement was given to the judge for his consideration.

“When I think about how this affected me, I think about how I never fully came back from those days. A part of me died in that apartment and I mourn for the life I could have lived-was supposed to live,” the victim wrote in the statement.

Polumbaum described Pena as the “most deliberately difficult defendant this building has ever seen.”

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In testifying in his own defense, Pena claimed what transpired during the three days in question was consensual, and the victim asked him for help and wanted to go to his apartment.

“And we started to have nice chemistry,” Pena testified via an interpreter. “I said I have an apartment, I had housing, and then, ‘Let’s go to your apartment,’ she said.”

Earlier in the trial, the accuser testified that Pena sexually assaulted her multiple times and threatened her if she tried to leave.

“I didn’t want to die,” the woman told the court.

The accuser said she feared for her life and Pena told her that he rescued her and they would start a family. Pena forced her to drink alcohol and fed her nothing but canned pineapple.

A digital forensic specialist said 322 photos and six explicit videos of the victim were found on Pena’s phone. Detectives who found the victim described to the court finding a terrified woman.

Until he took the stand, Pena was not present in the courtroom during testimony and was instead watching remotely from another room, following inappropriate behavior and disruptive outbursts.

During proceedings to seat a jury, Pena suddenly appeared naked on a monitor in the courtroom while he performed a lewd act. After about 16 seconds, the monitor in the courtroom was turned off. That jury pool was excused.

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