Suspended cop pleads guilty to assault

PROVIDENCE, R.I (WPRI) - A suspended Providence police officer charged with raping a teen while on duty, has pleaded guilty to assault charges.

Brian Lepore, 37, of 45 Standish Avenue in North Providence pleaded guilty to simple assault charges on Wednesday in Superior Court in Providence.  Judge Netti Vogel and Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch agreed on the deposition.

A spokesman for the Attorney General's office said that having Lepore enter a guilty plea spared the victim from the trauma from having to testify in a trial.

Judge Vogel sentenced Lepore to a one-year suspended prison sentence. He was also placed on probation. As a condition of the sentence, Judge Vogel ordered Lepore to resign from the police force, and to have no contact with the victim.

Lepore pleaded to a misdemeanor, which carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison.

The felony count of third-degree sexual assault on which he had been indicted carries a maximum sentence of five years behind bars.