Heredia not guilty of assaulting Granite Pathways walkaways, guilty on five other counts

Jun. 14—A Hillsborough County jury on Monday cleared Manchester resident Chasrick Heredia of five felony sexual assault charges involving girls who walked away from the youth-oriented drug and psychiatric treatment center Granite Pathways two years ago.

"I thought he was going to pass out," said Heredia's lawyer, Rusty Chadwick, about his client when the jury rendered its verdict. Heredia, 27, remains in custody while he awaits sentencing.

The jury convicted him of three misdemeanor charges involving supplying alcohol to minors and felony charges of witness tampering and falsifying evidence.

The jury got the case Friday afternoon and delivered a verdict Monday morning.

The case involved girls 16, 15 and 15 who walked away from the Granite Pathways treatment center in July 2019. The treatment center served teenagers and quickly opened at the Sununu Youth Services Center as the response to the opioid crisis grew in the state.

As a residential treatment center, Granite Pathways did not prevent its young clients from walking away. Gov. Chris Sununu eventually pulled the state contract for Granite Pathways following the reported sexual assaults and several overdoses.

Almost two years ago, the three girls walked away from the center and ended up with Heredia and Matthew Hugle. The two were accused of plying the girls with alcohol and having sex with them. Hugle faces trial in August on related charges.

At trial, Heredia testified that he did not have sex with the 15-year-old girls. He acknowledged sexual relations with the 16-year-old, who is of the age of consent. And, he said, she was not too intoxicated to resist. The charge involving the 16-year-old was a Class A felony, for which Heredia faced the longest prison sentence if convicted, 10 to 20 years.

The other four charges were for felonious sexual assault, alleging sexual contact with girls under the age of consent.

The felonies Heredia was convicted of deal with deleting a video of the encounters. Chadwick said his client admitted doing so, fearful he would face a child pornography charge if the video were ever found.

"You gotta be as straightforward as you can with a jury," Chadwick said.

Heredia has spent two years at Valley Street jail awaiting trial. No date has been set for his sentencing.

Monday was not the first time a jury has rendered a split verdict in a trial involving Heredia.

In 2019, he faced multiple assault and riot charges stemming from a brawl with police outside a cigar bar in downtown Manchester.

A jury cleared him of the most serious charges, including attempted murder and first-degree assault. Then the case collapsed as evidence surfaced that two police officers who testified, one the alleged victim of a beating at Heredia's hands, were dating.

Heredia agreed to a plea bargain that included two years of probation. The Hillsborough County Superior Court judge who freed him two years ago, Amy Messer, oversaw the Granite Pathways trial and will likely sentence him in the future.

Last week, Messer rejected Heredia's claim that he was incompetent, citing seizures from a self-inflicted jailhouse injury.