HANCOCK — A Hancock man on Sept. 12 pleaded innocent in Windsor Superior Court, criminal division, to a felony charge of aggravated sexual assault, after police investigated allegations that the man repeatedly engaged in non-consensual sex with a female neighbor described in court records as having been diagnosed with a mental disability.
 Roy K. Patten, 64, faces a jail term of  10 years to life and a fine of up to $50,000 if convicted on the aggravated sexual assault charge. Information on file at Addison County Superior Court indicates Patten has several past convictions on sex-related crimes.
It was on Aug. 31 that the victim’s sister called police to report Patten’s alleged misconduct at a home off Bettis Road in Hancock, according to court records. The sister said she and a brother had gone to pick up the 48-year-old victim to relocate her to a residence in New Hampshire, according to investigating Vermont State Police Trooper Daniel Trottier.
Trottier interviewed the victim and reported “It was immediately apparent that (the victim) did not process information as a normal 48-year-old woman,” and that a prior diagnosis had found her “to be processing information at a 3rd- or 4th-grade level,” according to court records.
The victim had been under the care of the state of Massachusetts prior to moving to Vermont a year ago with a boyfriend, according to state police. The pair settled in Hancock next to another couple — Patten and his girlfriend, according to court records. Patten’s girlfriend left him this past spring and subsequently took out a restraining order against him, Trottier’s affidavit states. Patten had filed a complaint against his girlfriend this past April “indicating that he thought his girlfriend was poisoning him,” according to court records.
Patten’s alleged sexual assaults on the victim started after Patten’s girlfriend had left and while the victim’s boyfriend was outside of their residence, according to state police. Those assaults included inappropriate touching of the victim, as well as unprotected sexual intercourse, according to court records. The victim did not initially report what she said were nonconsensual acts because she was afraid that Patten would hurt her boyfriend, according to Trottier’s affidavit.
State police interviewed Patten on Sept. 5. During that interview, Patten allegedly admitted to having had what he claimed was consensual sex with the victim around 10 times within the past month and that the victim told him she “enjoyed having sex with both he and (her boyfriend).”
A state police check of Patten’s criminal history revealed that “he was a registered sex offender for ‘strong-arm rape’ for a conviction in 1984 and also for ‘indecent exposure and lewdness’ for a conviction in 1998,” according to Trottier’s affidavit. Laconia, N.H., police cited Patten for attempted aggravated felonious sexual assault in 1983, according to court records.