Charges in trafficking case dropped after victim, now 11, is unable to take stand

Jeremy Brooks in court on April 16 and, inset, on NH's Department of Safety website (Rochester Voice photo)

DOVER - The Rochester man accused of asking sexual favors from an eight-year-old girl in 2022 in exchange for an X-Box gift card is off the hook on those charges after the victim, now 11, was unable to testify at a trial earlier this month, documents obtained by The Rochester Voice indicate.
But Jeremy Brooks, 31, still faces a separate charge of failing to register as a criminal offender, which he was declared due to convictions of second degree assault on a person under the age of 13 in 2014.
Brooks, with a last known address of Perimeter Drive, Rochester, had been charged with attempted felonious sexual assault and trafficking for sex with a victim under 13.
Those charges were dropped last week when the alleged victim was unable to take the stand, Assistant Strafford County Attorney Hannah Ward said on Wednesday.
When the trial began on April 16 both Ward and defense lawyer Erica Tracewell agreed that the outcome of the trial hinged on the credibility of the alleged victim, now 11, who was expected to take the stand.
During opening statements Ward said Brooks befriended the girl's parents who were having marital issues, and eventually offered to take the eight-year-old out for a shopping trip to cheer her up.
He took her to a Dairy Queen and Target where he bought her a dress that the prosecution said looked more like lingerie with see-thru material at the top, and that he went into her dressing room to see how she looked in it.
He later kissed her and offered her an X-Box gift card if he could touch her genitals, according to court documents.
"When he offered to take her shopping he made a situation where he would have her alone with him," said Ward. "If you find the girl's testimony credible you have to find him guilty."
Brooks had faced up to 40 years in state prison if convicted on both counts.
Brooks was back in court on Wednesday to request dates for a trial on the failure to register charge stemming from his convicted in 2014 on two counts of second degree assault against a child under 13. An individual listed on the registry of criminal offenders has been convicted of a crime - either sexual or nonsexual - against a child.