RAPIST FACES CHARGES TIED TO WORCESTER CHARRED BODY

A Level 3 sex offender and convicted rapist was ordered held on $250,000 cash bail yesterday in connection with the death of a 59-year-old Sterling woman whose charred body was found inside a burned car at a Worcester cemetery earlier this month.

Steven Foley, 56, of Northboro pleaded not guilty to charges of burning of a motor vehicle and malicious damage to a motor vehicle at his arraignment in Worcester District Court. His arrest in Peabody Tuesday night stemmed from the death of 59-year-old Cynthia Webb, whose body was found Dec. 12 inside a burned-out vehicle that was parked at Hope Cemetery, officials said.

A prosecutor said Foley and Webb were seen talking at the adult entertainment club in Webster where she worked, and later met up at another club in Worcester. Records show Foley had three rape convictions in the 1980s.

At the time of his arrest, Foley had an open case in Lynn District Court on charges including drug possession and driving with a suspended license. He was arraigned Nov. 21 and released on a bail warning. Foley was due back in court on that case Jan. 9.

Foley pleaded guilty in Salem Superior Court in April 2013 to two counts of indecent assault and battery and was sentenced to two years in jail. Because Foley had remained in custody since his 2010 arrest, he was released on time served and placed on probation for three years, with the conditions he wear a GPS monitoring bracelet and register as a sex offender, according to court records.

The Salem News reported at the time that Foley had been accused of rape by the victim, a Salem bar “entertainer,” but the charges were dropped by prosecutors when she refused to testify at his trial.

The victim from Foley’s rape convictions in the 1980s was a Salem State student, the paper reported.

Randall Webb, 67, a retired coal miner in Kentucky, told the Herald his daughter is married to Cynthia Webb’s 40-year-old son, Bradford, a restaurant manager in the Bluegrass State.

The couple gave Cynthia Webb two grandchildren: a girl, 9, and boy, 1.

“It’s a terrible thing. It’s overwhelming. I’m still in shock,” Randall Webb said yesterday of his in-law’s grisly death. “It seems like something you would see on TV or read in a book — not something that would happen in your family.”

Randall Webb said he only met Cynthia Webb once when she visited Kentucky nearly a decade ago. Although his daughter and son-in-law told him she worked at a strip club, he said he “didn’t get that impression” when he met her.

“She seemed nice as could be,” Randall Webb recalled. “She was attractive and very polite. Brad was looking forward to her visiting again.

“I just don’t know what to say to Brad,” he said, wearily. “Nobody has words to comfort you anyway.”

Attempts to reach Bradford Webb were unsuccessful.