Chiropractor found guilty of third-degree rape

Prosecutors sought a guilty verdict on a charge of first-degree rape. Jurors, however, convicted him on the lesser charge, which carries a significantly lesser penalty of one to five years as opposed to the 10- to 20-year sentence for a first-degree rape conviction.

Colasanti was arrested in January 2021, after it was reported he had raped a girl in November 2020 by digital penetration during a chiropractic procedure.

One of the critical pieces of evidence against him was a letter prosecutors say he wrote that was delivered to his brother apologizing for the incident, and a text message he sent in which he said it was “such a disgusting thing to do” and that he planned to seek therapy.

Defense attorneys claimed the letter was written by a family member of Colasanti’s, a claim which Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Teresa Logsdon refuted during her closing statement to the jury, comparing his printing on another document to that in the letter.

“He can’t get around this letter,” she said. “I think he thought he could.”

The letter was allowed into evidence after Colasanti’s brother testified in a pretrial hearing the handwriting was Colasanti’s.

Evidence also included testimony from the victim, during which she said she was in shock when the assault occurred, and that, she “just wanted to forget about it.”

Logsdon said with the conviction, Colasanti will have to comply with the sex offender registry for 20 years. He also will have five years of post-incarceration supervision and have to complete the Sex Offender Treatment Program before seeing the parole board.

In her closing statement, Logsdon spoke about the impact of the assault on the victim.

“Her whole life’s plan changed in moments. In seconds. Because of what that man did,” she said, pointing to Colasanti.