Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that a 42-year-old Huntington Station man[1] was sentenced to 18 years in prison followed by 18 years of post-release supervision, after pleading guilty to Course of Sexual Conduct Against a Child, for repeatedly sexually abusing his daughter over the course of three years.
The District Attorney’s Office is not naming the defendant in order to protect the identity of the child victim.
“No child should ever be subjected to the horrors of sexual abuse, let alone by a family member,” said District Attorney Tierney. “This defendant violated his role as a father in the most despicable way. I hope this sentence provides the victim with closure and peace after what she endured for so long.”
According to court documents and the defendant’s admissions during his guilty plea allocution, the defendant began sexually abusing his daughter for three years, beginning in September 2018, when she was just 11 years old, until August 2022.
In the summer of 2022, the victim’s mother began to feel suspicious of the defendant’s behavior toward their daughter and left her cell phone recording in the bedroom while she went to the kitchen to cook. When the victim’s mother later viewed the video recording, she observed the defendant sexually abusing their daughter. The victim’s mother immediately confronted the defendant and reported the abuse to the Suffolk County Police Department, who arrested the defendant that day.
On December 20, 2023, the defendant pleaded guilty before County Court Judge, the Honorable Karen M. Wilutis, to the following charges:
- One count of Course of Sexual Conduct Against a Child in the First Degree, a Class B violent felony;
- Three counts of Criminal Sexual Act in the Second Degree, Class D violent felonies;
- One count of Incest in the Second Degree, a Class D felony;
- One count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child, a Class A misdemeanor; and
- One count of Sexual Abuse in the Third Degree, a Class B misdemeanor.
On February 14, 2024, Judge Wilutis sentenced the defendant to 18 years in prison followed by 18 years of post-release supervision. He will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison. He was represented by Christopher Brocato, Esq.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Ashley Moruzzi of the Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Bureau with the criminal investigation conducted by Detective Lisa Hofelich of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Special Victims Section.
Criminal complaints and indictments are merely accusatory instruments. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.