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Joseph Exume, of Morrisville, is accused of raping the girl from the time she was 16 years old in 2013 until she reported it to the Morrisville Police Department in May 2021, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said. Exume was subsequently charged in June 2021.
Exume pleaded guilty to one count each of rape by forcible compulsion, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse by forcible compulsion, and unlawful contact with a minor, authorities said.
On May 26, 2021, the victim, then 24, went to the Morrisville Police Department to report that Exume had attempted to touch her the night before, the latest in a string of sexual assaults that had lasted more than seven years, the DA's office said.
The victim told investigators that the sexual abuse began just weeks after she moved into his Morrisville home from Haiti.
During these assaults, which included digital, oral, and vaginal penetration, she tried to flee and say "no" but was restrained by her neck, authorities said. She was forced to smile through it, or he would start over, she noted.
She ultimately felt as though she could not defy Exume because he would punish her if she did, authorities said. The punishments, she told police, came in the form of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse.
Exume convinced the victim that he was her biological father, but he later admitted he wasn't during an assault, which he told her justified his actions, according to the DA's office.
She said he also threatened that if she told anyone, her family, both in the United States and in Haiti, would suffer because he was their main financial provider, authorities said.
“The courage that it took for this young woman to stand up to this defendant, despite his psychological and physical hold on her is nothing short of amazing,” Deputy District Attorney Mary Kate Kohler said.
“She deserves to be commended for taking charge of her life and her body despite all the unknowns. She is a wonderful young woman who is determined not to be defined by this defendant’s actions. I am confident she will do great things.”
“I am grateful to all the people that helped me get out and start a new life," the woman wrote in a victim impact statement provided by the Bucks County DA's office.
"As for my feelings on sentencing, I do not want [Exume] to ever be able to manipulate and take advantage of anyone like that again.”
The case was investigated by the Morrisville Police Department and Bucks County Detectives. Mary Kate Kohler prosecuted the case for the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.
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