Three indicted on sexual-assault charges

WARWICK — Three Kent County residents were indicted June 16 on charges of sexual assault and molestation involving minors in separate incidents, the attorney general’s office announced Monday. All of the defendants will be arraigned in Superior Court on Friday.

Marcos Rodriguez, 29, of 1735 Main St., West Warwick, was indicted on one count each of first-degree and second-degree child molestation on a victim under the age of 14. First-degree child molestation is defined as sexual penetration, while the second-degree charge encompasses any sexual contact. The incidents are alleged to have occurred around March 23 in West Warwick. Rodriguez is being held without bail at the ACI.

Bryan Pacheco, 34, of 50 Lexington Ave., West Warwick, was indicted on three counts of third-degree sexual assault for incidents involving a victim between the ages of 14 and 16. The state police investigated the incidents, which are alleged to have occurred in West Warwick between April and June 2006. Pacheco’s case was presented to the grand jury and resulted in a secret indictment, meaning that it did not originate with an arrest or a prior court case.

Christina Durand, 42, of 385 Moosehorn Rd., East Greenwich, was indicted on three counts of third-degree sexual assault. Police allege that Durand sexually penetrated a victim between the ages of 14 and 16 sometime between January and April 2008 while in West Warwick. West Warwick police conducted the investigation.

— Talia Buford

Seekonk barn fire ruled accidental

SEEKONK — A fire on Sunday that destroyed a barn at 10 Meadow Court and killed six to seven dozen rabbits and fowl inside it has been ruled an accident.

As someone inside the home was calling to report the blaze shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday, the smoke had already drifted to the fire station, not far from the working farm owned by Anthony Mello, said Fire Chief Alan Jack.

When firefighters arrived, Jack said, the building was engulfed in flames and Mello and a nephew were trying to move the animals and some gasoline and propane tanks that were stored in and around the building, Jack said. Although they moved some of the tanks, at least three others exploded, Jack said.

Fire investigators learned Mello had been working on some farm equipment and had just set a fire in a large stove-like fireplace inside the barn — that Jack said was built properly — to smoke meat.

The barn and its contents were a total loss, Jack said.

Firefighters protected nearby buildings that housed more animals –– chickens, turkeys, ducks and other fowl. Those survived, as did sheep in a corral at the barn, Jack said.

–– Kate Bramson