Former Freetown Sunday School teacher gets decades in prison for raping 14-year-old girl

FALL RIVER — A former Sunday School teacher, mail carrier and substitute teacher in the Freetown school system was convicted on Monday of raping a 14-year-old girl over a period of months.

Judge Raffi Yessayan sentenced Gilbert Hernandez, 58, of Taunton to 30 to 40 years in state prison on Wednesday. The prison sentence will be followed by 10 years of supervised probation.

A Fall River Superior Court jury found Hernandez guilty of five counts of rape of a child, aggravated by more than a 10-year age difference, two counts of rape of a child by force, four counts of indecent assault and battery, and two counts of dissemination of obscene matter to a child.

The rapes and molestations occurred between February and July 2018 in Freetown, Lakeville, Raynham and Taunton. He was arrested in 2021.

Hernandez knew the victim through a friendship she had with his son, and his roles as a Freetown-Lakeville substitute teacher and a Sunday school teacher at a Freetown church, according to the office of Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III.

During the sentencing hearing, Hernandez's victim told the court how her childhood was stripped from her and how his manipulations led her to lose many friendships. She also spoke about the affect the repeated abuse has had on her, detailing for the court how she has frequent nightmares and often wakes up to vomit from PTSD flashbacks.

Quinn stated that he was appalled by Hernandez's "egregious and depraved conduct committed against a young girl."

"The evidence against the defendant was overwhelming and the state prison sentence clearly warranted. The defendant took advantage of the relationship between the two families. He was able to obtain her trust, which allowed him to have repeated access to her, resulting in multiple acts of rape and sexual abuse,” Quinn said. “It is particularly galling that the defendant was her religious education instructor and a substitute teacher at her school."

Quinn thanked Assistant District Attorneys Silvia Rudman and Danielle Pixley for leading the prosecution, and noted the victim's family's "perseverance in the most difficult of circumstances."

"Despite the trauma caused by the defendant’s abuse, I hope the victim can move forward with her life.”

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Jury: Taunton man, ex-Sunday School teacher guilty of child rape