Police: Disabled woman raped twice in public housing apartment

By Elizabeth Dinan

A former tenant of the Feaster Apartments public housing building is being held on $25,000 cash-only bail for a pair of felonies alleging he twice raped a disabled neighbor.

tenant verification

Charged with two counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault is Paul Fierley, 50, who police said was evicted from the public housing building in January, due to “his behavior toward other residents.” According to an affidavit by detective Kristyn Bernier, Fierley raped the disabled woman twice on Nov. 1 when he knew she was developmentally disabled.

The detective wrote in her affidavit that Fierley moved to Maine while knowing he was under investigation for sexually assaulting the alleged victim, as well as “victimizing other vulnerable adults at Feaster Apartments.”

Fierley was arraigned Friday in the Portsmouth Circuit Court, where Judge Mark Weaver set the high cash bail. He was court-ordered to return for a March 4 probable cause hearing.

Last October, Fierley was convicted for simple assault and given a suspended jail sentence for kissing a neighbor on the mouth. He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor in the Circuit Court, admitting that on Oct. 19, 2011, he had “unprivileged contact” with the woman by kissing her.

In exchange for his plea, Fierley was fined $500 and sentenced to the county jail for 10 days. The fine and jail time were suspended providing he remained of good behavior for a year, performed 20 hours of community service and had no contact with that victim for a year.

This article was written by Elizabeth Dinan   and originally published on seacoastonline