SALEM — A serial rapist who once admitted to raping more than two dozen women was sentenced this morning to 20 to 25 years in state prison for an attempted rape on Plum Island last September. Scott A. Gagnon, 51, of Tewksbury, will then spend the 20 years after that on probation and will also be under community parole supervision for the rest of his life, under the terms of the plea agreement accepted by Salem Superior Court Judge John Lu. Gagnon pleaded guilty to attempted rape and indecent assault and battery. Because the attempted rape was a subsequent offense, he was facing up to life, but a life sentence would have made him eligible for parole after 15 years. As a result of the 20- to 25-year term, he will not be eligible for parole until he has served at least 20 years. Gagnon, who had spent 27 years in prison and a state treatment center for a series of rapes in the late 1970s, was released in 2007 after experts concluded that he had been rehabilitated. On the afternoon of Sept. 28, Gagnon admitted this morning, he followed and then attacked a woman who had gone jogging along the beach. After a struggle, the woman escaped, said prosecutor Gerald Shea, and flagged down a passing four-wheel-drive vehicle. Gagnon was found in a parking lot a short time later. For more details on this case, please see tomorrow's Newburyport Daily News.
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Three-alarm fire displaces families, kills dog
ROWLEY — At least three people were left without a place to sleep after a rolling three-alarm fire consumed much of a Central Street house this afternoon, killing a dog belonging to one of the homeowners. Fire departments from across the region conv
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Replica gun sends Pentucket High into lockdown
WEST NEWBURY — One person is under arrest following a report of a handgun at Pentucket Regional High School this morning. The gun turned out to be a replica, said Groveland Police Chief Robert Kirmelewicz. The school was locked down for a brief time.
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Local election results
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In Boston and beyond, thanks and jubilation
They gathered in silence on Boylston Street, just three blocks away from the chaos and carnage caused by twin bombings four days earlier. Some were crying. Boston University student Aaron Wengertsman, 19, wrapped himself in an American flag. He was o
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Amesbury woman injured in Marathon blast
BOSTON - Amesbury High School graduate Remy Lawler lies in a Boston hospital recovering from surgery performed yesterday to remove a piece of shrapnel from her right thigh. Lawler was one of more than 100 people injured yesterday when two bombs went
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