Otis Man Faces Life In Prison

PITTSFIELD — An Otis man who has been accused of multiple assaults on young girls faces life in prison after being convicted of raping a 5-year-old girl in the summer of 2011.

The Berkshire Eagle reports, Stephen L. Hyland, 34, was found guilty in Berkshire Superior Court on Monday of rape of a child with force, intimidation of a witness and open and gross lewdness.

Testimony in his trial began last Thursday. The jury delivered its verdict after a total of about six hours of deliberations.

He is being held without the right to bail pending a sentencing hearing scheduled for 2 p.m. May 24.

Hyland was convicted of assaulting the girl in the area of the Otis reservoir when she and Hyland were alone.

During that trip, prosecutors said, Hyland told the girl to stop and pulled down her pants and underwear and assaulted her.

The assault took place near the beach access on Hayre Island Road in Otis.

He then exposed himself to the girl and asked her to touch him, which she declined to do, and then warned the girl not to tell anyone.

The girl kept the assault to herself until August 2016, when she wrote a note to her mother, divulging her secret for the first time.