A lengthy Barrington Police investigation has led to the arrest of Coventry resident Richard C. Antonio, Jr.  

The investigation began in Dec. 2022. On Monday, Dec. 5, 2022, Barrington Police responded to a local residence at about 4:55 a.m. after receiving a 911 call. The homeowner told police an unknown man had been inside the home smoking marijuana, which then set off the home’s smoke alarm. 

Police said the resident’s 12-year-old daughter had been communicating with the man through texts and social media for the past eight months, and she may have invited him to the home. (They initially believed the man was 31 years old.)

Police said the man fled the scene before officers arrived, but investigators were later able to locate the suspect and interview him. Police said the man, later identified as Antonio, Jr., admitted to smoking marijuana at the home but added that nothing else happened. 

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security assisted with the investigation, and the findings were presented to a Providence County Grand Jury.  

On Feb. 16, the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office notified Barrington Police that the Providence County Grand Jury had returned a two-count indictment against Antonio Jr. 

Count one is “Contributing to Delinquency of a Child Under 16”; Count two is “First Degree Child Molestation Sexual Assault.”

On Thursday, March 7, the Rhode Island Violent Fugitive Task Force along with Barrington Police Detectives apprehended Richard C. Antonio Jr., 26, of Coventry, who was subsequently presented in Providence Superior Court.