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From the City & Region staff at The Boston Globe

After release by judge, sex offender commits new crime

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February 29, 2008 11:42 PM

By Jillian Jorgensen, Globe Correspondent

A Level 3 sex offender is being held without bail on charges that he raped a man in Taunton, according to prosecutors.

Kenneth Stone, 37, of Taunton, was arraigned Monday, said Gregg Miliote, a spokesman for Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter.

Stone's attorney didn't immediately return messages seeking comment.

Prosecutors sought to have Stone civilly committed after he had served his sentence for sex offenses committed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but Superior Court Judge Richard T. Moses declined last May.

It's the third case in recent months in which a Level 3 sex offender released by Moses has been charged with a new crime.

In his ruling in Stone's case, Moses wrote, "the court concludes that the Commonwealth has not met its burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Stone is sexually dangerous."

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