Press Release  Joel Morris Plea

Cape and Islands — District Attorney O’Keefe announced that on March 30, 2017 Joel Morris plead guilty to fifteen child sexual abuse and child pornography related indictments involving three different minor teenaged girls.  The lead indictments included Aggravated Rape of a Child with Force, Aggravated Rape of a Child and Posing/Exhibiting a Child in a Sexual Act.  Defendant Morris also plead guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana and Possession with Intent to Distrubute a Class C Substance (Dabs). 

In early January 2015, the investigation into Joel Morris began with Sandwich High School Resource Officer Krista Cabral, who had received a tip from a student.  According to the student, Morris was posing as a photographer for a magazine and seeking out young, under-aged girls for explicit photographs. Further investigation revealed the possible sexual abuse of a 15 year old girl at Morris’ Centerville residence. Barnstable Police took over the investigation and subpoenaed records from both Snapchat and Facebook messenger and was able to recover valuable evidence from both.  In addition a search warrant was executed at Morris’ residence in Centerville.  At that time, the defendant’s electronic devices, including his computer, camera and phone, were seized and a forensic analysis of these electronics revealed evidence of sexual abuse of the 15 year old girl as well as sexual abuse of other under aged teenagers. 

Morris was sentenced by the Honorable Robert C. Rufo and committed to state prison for 15 years. The Honorable Judge Rufo further sentenced Morris to nineteen years probation to begin running concurrently with the committed portion of his sentence. Barnstable Police Detectives Kevin Connolly and Meaghan Cunningham led the investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Nicole Manoog. 

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