Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that a Suffolk County man[1] was sentenced to 50 years in prison after a jury trial found him guilty in April 2023 of Rape in the First Degree, for sexually abusing a child.
“While the efforts of the victim to bring her abuser to justice were heroic, it should go without saying that no child should ever be subjected to sexual abuse,” said District Attorney Tierney. “As for the defendant, he will spend decades in a prison cell far away from the victim and the residents of Suffolk County. My office will continue to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, anyone who hurts children.”
The evidence at trial established that the defendant began to sexually abuse the victim when she was ten years old, and continued until she was 11. The victim secretly recorded conversations that she had with the defendant in which she confronted him about the abuse, and the defendant made incriminating statements.
The victim provided those recordings to the Suffolk County Police Department when she reported the crime, and those recordings were introduced as evidence during the trial.
On April 5, 2023, the defendant was convicted after a jury trial held before County Court Judge, the Honorable Judge Karen M. Wilutis, for the charges of Rape in the First Degree, a Class B violent felony, Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree, a Class B violent felony, and Endangering the Welfare of a Child, a Class A misdemeanor.
On June 2, 2023, the defendant was sentenced to 50 years in prison, followed by 20 years of post-release supervision. He was represented by Christopher Brocato, Esq.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Dana Castaldo and MacDonald Drane of the Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Bureau, with investigative assistance from Detective Jason Bishop of the Suffolk County Police Department.
Criminal complaints and indictments are merely accusatory instruments. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.