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Ware man sentenced to 9-13 ½ years in prison for 2009 rape

Posted on: February 10, 2020 - 10:56am

Arthur E. Salsbury, 43, of Ware, was sentenced in Hampshire Superior Court, on Jan. 24, to 9-13 ½ years in prison, after a Hampshire County jury found him guilty on Friday, Jan. 17, 2020, of two counts of rape.

The jury determined that Salsbury had raped a Holyoke woman in a wooded area off School Street in Granby on Oct. 3, 2009, after agreeing to give her a ride from Holyoke to Chicopee.

This conviction represents Salsbury’s second rape conviction. In June, 2019, he was sentenced to 9-13 ½ years in prison after a Hampshire County jury found him guilty of the February 2018 rape of a woman in DuFresne Park in Granby. In that incident, he also brought the victim from Holyoke to Granby, raping her in the park and causing her to flee into a swamp where she hid for an hour in freezing temperatures. In both cases, the women knocked on the doors of homes in the area and were assisted by the residents in alerting the police.

The 9-13 ½ year sentence awarded by the court today was ordered to be served from and after, or consecutive, to the 9-13 ½ year sentence that he is currently serving. Thus, he will serve a total of 18-27 years, which will be followed by five years of probation.

“We are grateful for the jury’s close attention to the evidence introduced during the trial and their verdict.  Today, the Court awarded the sentence requested by the Commonwealth in this case, which we believe is appropriate and just,” said Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Suhl who prosecuted the case with Assistant District Attorney Erin Aiello.

“This case was able to be solved through the combination of DNA evidence and a thorough police investigation conducted jointly by the Massachusetts State Police and the Granby Police Department, with assistance from the Holyoke Police Department,” Suhl said. 

“The Commonwealth is grateful to the victim for being willing to see this case through to trial, over 10 years after the assault, and displaying strength and incredible courage by testifying in a public courtroom about a traumatic event for which the defendant now stands convicted,” Suhl said.