Accused sex offender faces new charges
A Henniker man accused of raping a female relative has now been charged with sexually abusing another victim, a 9-year-old girl.
James Houghton assaulted the girl by touching her genitalia with his hand and also kissing her lips, according to the indictments released yesterday by Merrimack County Superior Court. Court documents don’t make it clear how 49-year-old Houghton knows the girl he is accused of abusing between September 2011 and October 2012 in Concord.
Houghton is also accused of intentionally rubbing his genitals against the girl twice, once when he put her in his lap and once when he laid on top of her.
The five new charges – one for aggravated felonious sexual assault, two for felonious sexual assault and two for simple assault – bring the total counts filed against Houghton in the past six months to more than two dozen.
The cases against him have been worked on by both the Concord and Henniker police, and yesterday Henniker police Chief Ryan Murdough called his office’s ongoing investigation “long-term and huge.”
Houghton was charged in October with sexually assaulting a relative starting in 2004, when she was 17 years old, and continuing until 2011.
According to a police affidavit, the woman has said she met Houghton when
she was 12. It also said he created a list where he dictated what days the woman had to come to his house and what sexual acts she had to perform.
He told her that if she completed the tasks, he would “back off,” according to the affidavit.
At that time Houghton was also charged with six counts of possessing child pornography.
While awaiting trial on those charges, Houghton was accused of asking others to circulate photographs of that female relative engaging in sexual activity. According
to a prosecutor, Houghton did so as a form of retaliation against the now-25-year-
old woman to punish her
for cooperating with the police.
Merrimack County Attorney Scott Murray declined to give further details yesterday about the nature of Houghton’s relationship with the 9-year-old girl in the newest charges.
Houghton is being held at the county jail in Boscawen.
(Tricia L. Nadolny can be reached at 369-3306 or
tnadolny@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @tricia_nadolny.)
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