Jury convicts Middletown man for child molestation and sexual assault

Published on Monday, June 22, 2026

Attorney General Peter F. Neronha today announced that a Middletown man has been found guilty in Newport County Superior Court of multiple counts of child molestation and sexual assault.

On June 18, 2026, following a four-day trial before Superior Court Justice William E. Carnes, a jury found Steven Sousa (age 36) guilty of three counts of first-degree child molestation, three counts of second-degree child molestation, and one count of first-degree sexual assault.

The defendant is currently being held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI) pending a sentencing hearing scheduled for August 27, 2026.

During the trial, the State proved beyond a reasonable doubt that between February 2023 and May 2024, the defendant sexually assaulted a female victim, who was known to him, while she was under the age of 14 and after she turned 14.

Assistant Attorney General Eric Batista and Special Assistant Attorney General Carina Donato of the Attorney General’s Office and Detectives Geoffrey Dellefratte and Michael Kravchuk of the Middletown Police Department led the investigation and prosecution of the case.

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