Federal immigration agents arrested a 40-year-old French national in Dedham on October 1, citing a criminal history that includes an arrest for rape of a child with force, three counts of rape of a child involving a 10-year age difference, and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older. Jerome Nicolas Pascal Charton was taken into custody by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers in Norfolk County.
According to New Bedford Guide, Charton entered the United States legally in 2021 but later violated the terms of his admission in connection with the alleged offenses, according to ICE. The agency said he was in the country unlawfully at the time of his arrest. ICE Boston has said it will continue enforcement efforts aimed at people it considers public-safety risks, including noncitizens with sexual offense records on their histories.
The specific charges cited by ICE carry significant weight under Massachusetts law. Rape of a child under 16 with force, charged under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 265, Section 22A, is a felony carrying a maximum potential sentence of life imprisonment in state prison, according to the Norfolk District Attorney's Office. Indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older, charged under Chapter 265, Section 13H, carries up to five years in state prison or 2.5 years in a house of correction, along with mandatory sex offender registry requirements upon conviction, per the Serpa Law Office.
What Remains Unconfirmed
Several key details have not been disclosed. ICE did not say whether the underlying criminal cases resulted in convictions, nor did the agency provide court dates or case numbers. The report notes that local police and court records were not immediately available to confirm the underlying criminal cases.
ICE also did not say where Charton is currently being held or whether he will face immigration proceedings that could lead to his removal from the country. If formal state indictments do proceed, serious felony charges in Norfolk County, including rape and severe sex crimes alleged to have occurred in Dedham, fall under the jurisdiction of the Norfolk Superior Court, according to the Law Offices of Stephen Neyman.
Why Federal Agents, Not Local Police
The arrest illustrates a dynamic that has shaped immigration enforcement across Massachusetts for years. Under the state's 2017 Supreme Judicial Court ruling in Lunn v. Commonwealth, state and local law enforcement officers lack statutory authority under state law to detain noncitizens based solely on federal civil immigration detainers, according to a statement posted on Mass.gov. That limitation is why federal ICE officers carry out independent targeted field arrests in the state rather than relying on local police holds once custody or bail obligations expire.
Any removal case against Charton would proceed through a separate legal track from the state criminal allegations. Noncitizens arrested by ICE ERO who face deportation undergo administrative proceedings before federal immigration judges within the Executive Office for Immigration Review, a Department of Justice agency that operates independently of ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, the agency has said in prior releases.
Part of a Broader Regional Pattern
Charton's arrest fits into a wider pattern of enforcement activity across eastern Massachusetts this year. The ICE Boston Field Office, which oversees New England, has conducted multiple targeted arrests of noncitizens facing child sex charges across the state in 2026, including actions in Lowell, Billerica, and Fall River. Hoodline has previously reported on several of these cases, including the arrest of a convicted child rapist following his release from a Massachusetts prison and the arrest of a Springfield man facing seven child rape counts.
Nationally, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations conducted 170,590 administrative arrests in fiscal year 2023, including 73,822 noncitizens with criminal histories encompassing thousands of sexual assault charges and convictions, the agency has reported. Separately, Department of Homeland Security data shows that citizens traveling from Visa Waiver Program nations, including France, maintained a low overall in-country overstay rate of 0.62 percent in fiscal year 2023, a program that permits stays of up to 90 days without a visa.
