Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a Locust Valley man was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison for sexually assaulting his girlfriend’s daughter multiple times between 2014 and 2017.
Gonzalo Galvez, 58, was convicted by a jury on April 18 before Judge Helene Gugerty of two counts of Predatory Sexual Assault Against a Child (an A-II felony) and Course of Sexual Conduct Against a Child in the First Degree (a B violent felony).
The trial lasted approximately six weeks and the jury returned with a verdict in approximately two hours.
“I am committed to prosecuting child predators who prey on the vulnerable. This 58-year old man targeted his girlfriend’s nine-year-old daughter for sex and tried to buy her trust with gifts and attention,” DA Singas said. “For three years, Gonzalo Galvez systematically robbed this young girl of her childhood and innocence. The defendant was brought to justice by the brave young survivor who testified against her abuser and the heroic Good Samaritans who stopped the abuse. Nassau County is safer today because this remorseless defendant is behind bars.”
DA Singas said that from 2014 to 2017, the defendant repeatedly sexually assaulted his girlfriend’s daughter. The abuse began when the child was nine years old and continued for three years. The defendant used fear and bribery to guarantee his access to the child and ensure her silence. The abuse ultimately ended on June 25, 2017, when witnesses observed the defendant raping the child in the back seat of his car in an empty parking lot in Seaford. These witnesses subsequently reported the incident to the police and thereby saved the child from any further abuse.
Assistant District Attorneys Emma Slane and Evgenia Soldatos of DA Singas’ Special Victims Bureau are prosecuting this case. Edward Galison, Esq. represents the defendant.