Cranston pleads guilty to rape
BY PETER A. SUTTERS JR. INDEPENDENT WRITER

A former Nantucket High School student plead guilty in Nantucket Superior Court on Monday to raping a 13 year-old girl in a stairwell of the high school in 2006 and will serve two years in the Barnstable County House of Corrections.

Steven G. Cranston, 20, of Nantucket, plead guilty to charges of rape of a child and indecent assault and battery on a child less than 14 years old and will serve three years of probation, have to register as a sexual offender, receive treatment while in custody and wear a Global Positioning System monitoring device in addition to serving jail time.

Cranston was originally charged with rape of a child by force, indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 and assault and battery. The charge of rape of a child with force was reduced to rape of a child as part of the plea so that Cranston could serve his time in Barnstable, rather than in a state penitentiary. The assault and battery charge was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

Cranston was 18 years old and a student at the time of the incident.

Shortly after Cranston had plead guilty, his mother began crying and collapsed in the court room, causing Judge Paul Chernoff to break for lunch before formally accepting the change in plea. Cranston's mother was treated by EMTs from the Nantucket Fire Department, but was not transported for treatment.

During the break in a nearly empty courtroom, she was able to embrace her son, who was also visibly upset, crying and clutching a box of tissues.

She did not return to the courtroom to hear Judge Chernoff accept Cranston's plea and have his sentence read.

According to Assistant District Attorney Thomas Shack, the incident began on Nov. 6, 2006 after school hours had ended when Cranston and a 13-yearold girl were in an elevator at the high school. Shack summarized the case the Commonwealth would have presented to try and convict Cranston by saying he became "aggressive" with the girl in the elevator at the school. Shack said he then "grabbed her by the wrist" and led her into a stairwell where he had further contact.

Shack said Cranston left DNA on the stairwell as well as on the girl's clothing.

The girl went home and told her mother what happened, and the mother contacted authorities who began an investigation leading to Cranston's arrest, Shack said.

The mother of the girl was in the courtroom during the proceedings and Shack said she had been kept up to date as the case came to a resolution. She and her daughter stayed on Nantucket to see the case come to a close, but have plans to leave the island and the state, Judge Chernoff said.

Chernoff also said Cranston may not have contact with minors or work in a job that would put him in regular contact with minors upon his release. I