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District Attorney Jeff Cruden announced in a January 24, 2023 press release that Roberto Anastasio Hernandez, 47, of Manteo, was convicted by a jury of three counts of statutory rape of a child, one count of statutory sexual offense with a child, three counts of taking indecent liberties with a child and one count of second degree kidnapping in Dare County Superior Court on Friday, January 20.

Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Jerry R. Tillett presided over the trial, the case was prosecuted by assistant district attorneys Jennifer Karpowicz Bland and Amber Younce and legal assistant Hannah Gilroy.

“I want to give a special thanks to the three victims and their families for their courage to come forward and report what happened to them and put their trust in the criminal justice system to seek justice in this case,” said Cruden. “A special thanks also goes to out the men and women of the Dare County Sheriff’s Office that investigated the case and provided us with the evidence the jury needed to reach their final decision. And lastly, to the prosecutors and support staff that poured all their energy and talents into the trial to seek justice. These types of cases are often the hardest to prove, and without the commitment and dedication of everyone involved, we would not have been able to obtain the verdicts that were delivered.”

The defendant will serve the eight separate active sentences consecutively, according to the press release: “The Statutory Rape and Sexual Offenses each were sentenced to a minimum of 240 months and a maximum of 348 months, each Indecent Liberties with a Child offense was sentenced to a minimum of 16 months and a maximum of 29 months, and the kidnapping was sentenced to a minimum of 73 months and a maximum of 148 months. The total maximum sentence for the defendant is 1,627 months or 135.5 years.”

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