Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Derrick Clancy, 43, pleaded guilty to burglary, sexual abuse, and other related charges, for breaking into the homes of two elderly women in Mastic Beach and sexually assaulting them.
“This defendant preyed on and violated two elderly women while they were supposed to be in the safe harbor of their own homes,” said District Attorney Tierney. “Thanks to the great work of the Suffolk County Police Department officers and task force members, this defendant will no longer be able to harm Suffolk County residents.”
According to the investigation and the defendant’s admissions during his guilty plea allocution, during the early morning hours on October 10, 2023, Clancy broke into a Mastic Beach home where his first victim, a woman over 70 years old, was inside alone. To get inside the home, Clancy cut a hole in a window screen and climbed through the window. Clancy then physically and sexually abused the victim while repeatedly claiming he had a knife. Following the abuse, the victim pressed her medical alert system button for help, and Clancy fled the home. The victim was treated at a local hospital for her injuries.
The second attack occurred during the early morning hours of October 17, 2023, when a woman over 70 years old heard a noise coming from a closet inside her home. When the victim looked in the closet, she saw Clancy coming into her home through a window in the closet. Clancy then physically and sexually abused the victim. Clancy fled the victim’s home, and she immediately called 911. The victim was then treated at a local hospital for her injuries.
Following an investigation by the Suffolk County Police Department, United States Marshals Service’s New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force including District Attorney Investigators, and investigators with the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, Clancy was arrested on October 21, 2023, and detectives recovered the mask and knife that Clancy had used during the first burglary.
On April 30, 2024, Clancy pleaded guilty to the following charges contained in the indictment before Acting Supreme Court Justice Karen M. Wilutis:
- Two counts of Burglary in the First Degree, Class B violent felonies;
- Two counts of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, Class D violent felonies;
- Two counts of Assault in the Second Degree, Class D violent felonies; and
- Two counts of Criminal Obstruction of Breathing or Blood Circulation, Class A misdemeanors.
Clancy is due back in court on June 21, 2024, for sentencing and is expected to be sentenced to 22 years to life in prison. He is being represented by Christopher Brocato, Esq.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Tara O’Donnell and Jacob DeLauter of the Major Crime Bureau and Detectives Michael Langella and Erik Pedersen of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Seventh Squad.
Criminal complaints and indictments are merely accusatory instruments. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.
