A 23-year-old Antwerp man is facing second-degree rape, child endangerment and criminal obstruction of breathing charges after authorities say he had sex with a 14-year-old girl and choked her during an alleged encounter in the town of LeRay. Lucas Cunningham was arraigned on the charges, and the case has since been moved up to Jefferson County Court.
According to WWNY, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office charged Cunningham with all three offenses following an investigation into the Sept. 10 incident. Court documents cited by the station allege that Cunningham had sex with the 14-year-old girl and applied pressure to her throat, preventing her from breathing or talking.
What the Charges Allege
The station reports the alleged assault happened in the town of LeRay, and that Cunningham was arraigned before the case was transferred to Jefferson County Court. Beyond the charges themselves and the date and location of the alleged incident, the outlet’s report does not detail Cunningham’s plea, bail status or an upcoming court date.
New York’s penal code lays out some of the legal framework behind the most serious charge Cunningham faces. Under Section 130.30 of the New York State Senate’s penal law, a person aged 18 or older commits second-degree rape by engaging in vaginal sexual contact with someone younger than 15. Separately, the state’s statute on criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation describes acting with intent to impede another person’s normal breathing or blood circulation, including applying pressure to the throat or neck.
A Separate Case in Watertown
The Antwerp case follows another local rape allegation reported by the same station in August. City police in Watertown charged 35-year-old Nicholas Goossen with a felony count of third-degree rape after an allegation involving a 16-year-old girl, the station’s report noted. Court documents in that case alleged sexual contact at a Factory Street apartment on a Thursday afternoon, and the station reported Goossen was arraigned and held without bail in the Jefferson County jail.
That same report noted Goossen had a prior conviction stemming from a 2018 arrest, for which he was sentenced to three years in prison and 10 years of probation on a third-degree rape charge. The two cases are separate and do not establish a broader pattern of local offenses, but both moved through the Jefferson County court system within months of each other.
