Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that a 36-year-old Center Moriches man,[1] pleaded guilty to one count of Course of Sexual Conduct in the First Degree, after subjecting his stepdaughter to repeated acts of rape and sexual abuse from the time that she was seven years old.
The District Attorney’s Office is not naming the defendant in order to protect the identity of the child victim.
“This guilty plea represents a significant step towards justice for the victim, who has shown remarkable courage throughout this process. The defendant’s admission of guilt after years of abusing his position of trust as a stepfather underscores the importance of supporting survivors and believing their voices,” said District Attorney Tierney. “We commend the victim’s bravery in coming forward to her mother after enduring a decade of abuse. Our office remains committed to vigorously prosecuting these cases and providing unwavering support to survivors of sexual abuse.”
According to court documents and the defendant’s admissions during his guilty plea allocution, sometime between 2014 and May 2023, the defendant raped his stepdaughter on a regular basis starting when she was seven years old. The abuse continued for years, with the defendant physically forcing himself upon the child as she fought back.
As time went by, the defendant’s abuse escalated to include anal sexual conduct against the child. The defendant sent the victim obscene images of himself and demanded that the victim send images of herself to him. In order to obtain these illicit images, the defendant threatened to subject the victim to more frequent anal sexual conduct.
In May of 2023, the victim begged her mother not to leave her alone with the defendant and when her mother asked why, the child told her mother what the defendant had been doing to her.
Upon learning this information, the victim and her mother formed a plan to catch the defendant in the act. The victim’s mother pretended to leave for work, and when she returned minutes later, through a side door she had left unlocked, she found the defendant completely nude standing over the victim attempting to rape the victim yet again. The victim’s mother then stopped the defendant from completing the act. The victim reported the abuse to the police shortly thereafter and the defendant was later arrested.
On June 20, 2024, the defendant pleaded guilty before Acting Supreme Court Justice Karen M. Wilutis to Course of Sexual Conduct Against a Child in the First Degree, a Class B violent felony. The defendant is due back in court on July 29, 2024, for sentencing, where he is expected to be sentenced to 20 years in prison followed by 20 years of post-release supervision. He is being represented by James DeAngelo, Esq.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Michelle Chiuchiolo of the Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Bureau with investigative assistance from Suffolk County Police Department Detective Michelle Speed of the Special Victims Section.
Criminal complaints and indictments are merely accusatory instruments. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.