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| Jaime Melendez |
(Scroll down for video) A woman might be forced to face her rapist on a regular basis in order to hand over her daughter to the suspect.
The victim, of Massachusetts, was identified only as "HT" in court documents. She was 14 when she had sex with then 20-year-old Jaime Melendez, according to court documents.
Melendez pleaded guilty to four counts of statutory rape and was offered a plea deal of 16 years probation. Part of his plea deal, Melendez was ordered to pay $110 per week in child support to the family courts.
After accepting the plea deal, Melendez asked the family court judge for visitation rights to his daughter since he had to pay child support.
Now, the young woman is suing the state of Massachusetts in federal court, saying that she has been forced into a 16 year legal relationship with a man who raped her, which resulted in him fathering her child.
The child's mother has said she wants no contact with him and is afraid to hand over her daughter to the man who raped her when she was just 14-years-old. She doesn't want her daughter to have contact with her rapist.
Melendez offered to withdraw his request for visitation if she agrees to drop the child support order.
The victim's lawyer filed a federal lawsuit after a state-level judge rejected the mother's requests.
The federal lawsuit seeks to change the conditions of his probation to eliminate the family court provisions, the woman's lawyer, Wendy Murphy said.
"This is not a family, it is a felony," said Murphy. "You do not reward a rapist with the privilege of a family," Murphy added.
Instead of child support payments, Murphy said, financial aid should come in the form of restitution ordered by a criminal court.
The victim said she felt intimidated into having sex with Melendez, who visited the family home while the child's mother was at work.