Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that a 45-year-old Brentwood man was sentenced to 16 years in prison after pleading guilty to rape and other related charges, for sexually abusing his five-year-old daughter.
The District Attorney’s Office is not naming the defendant in order to protect the identity of the child victim.
“This defendant subjected his five-year-old daughter to unthinkable sexual abuse,” said District Attorney Tierney. “I hope this prison sentence allows the victim time to heal and grow up in a world where she feels safe knowing her abuser cannot harm her again.”
According to court documents and the defendant’s admissions during his guilty plea allocution, on July 26, 2021, the defendant was spending time with his five-year-old daughter at his apartment. The victim’s mother, who was estranged from the defendant at the time, asked a family member to check on the child after she spoke with the defendant on the phone and believed that he had been drinking. The family member went into the defendant’s home and saw the defendant actively sexually abusing the child. The family member immediately called 911, resulting in the defendant’s immediate arrest. A sexual assault forensic examination was conducted on the child which confirmed DNA evidence of abuse.
On January 10, 2024, the defendant pleaded guilty before Acting Supreme Court Justice Karen M. Wilutis, to all of the charges contained in the indictment, which include:
- Rape in the First Degree, a Class B violent felony;
- Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree, a Class B violent felony;
- Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, a Class D violent felony;
- Sexual Abuse in the Second Degree, a Class A misdemeanor; and
- Endangering the Welfare of a Child, a Class A misdemeanor.
On March 14, 2024, Justice Wilutis sentenced the defendant to 16 years in prison followed by 20 years of post-release supervision. He was represented by Scott Zerner, Esq.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Zachary Kelly of the Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Guidarelli of the Domestic Violence Unit, and the investigation was conducted by now retired Detective Charles Ross of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Special Victims Section, and Suffolk County District Attorney Investigator Robert Fitchett.
Criminal complaints and indictments are merely accusatory instruments. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.
