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Original: A 59-year-old Belmont has been arrested and charged with raping a child he knew, taking photos of the girl, and distributing them online, authorities said. He was arrested in the midst of a suicide attempt while trying to evade capture, reports said.
Rickland Powell was charged with two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, distributing obscene matter to a minor, four counts of aggravated rape of a child, four counts of rape of a child with force, and posing a child in the nude, the Middlesex District Attorney's Office said.
Police searched Powell's home on Tuesday, Nov. 28, and found several media files, photos, and other items related to the repeated assaults, the prosecutor said.
Investigators went to arrest him in Andover on Thursday, but Powell sped away from police, officials said. He was captured Friday morning in Middlesex Fells Reservation in Stoneham and taken to an area hospital, the prosecutor said.
Authorities said he had hanged himself from a tree in the woods in a failed suicide attempt.
A judge ordered Powell held without bond pending a dangerousness hearing next week, the prosecutor said.
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