Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that a 36-year-old Bay Shore man was found guilty after a jury trial, of Course of Sexual Conduct Against a Child, after sexually abusing his niece over the course of approximately three years beginning when she was four years old.
The District Attorney’s Office is not naming the defendant in order to protect the identity of the child victim.
“What happened to this child is a parent’s worst nightmare, and it is even more tragic that it was at the hands of a family member,” said District Attorney Tierney. “This little girl was incredibly brave in coming forward to disclose what the defendant did to her, and I thank the jury for holding him accountable for his crimes.”
The evidence at trial established that in 2017, the victim, who was four years old at the time, lived with her family in the basement of a home that was shared with her uncle and grandparents. In the fall of that year, the defendant invited the victim, his niece, into his bedroom to play video games. Once she was inside his room, the defendant sexually abused the victim, and told her that if she told anyone what happened, he would do the same thing to her little sister. The sexual abuse continued for years until the victim and her family moved out of the house in November 2020. Two years later, the victim disclosed the abuse to a family member.
The Suffolk County Police Department then initiated an investigation which led to the defendant’s arrest in October 2022.
On December 19, 2023, the defendant was found guilty after a jury trial heard before County Court Judge, the Honorable Karen M. Wilutis, for Course of Sexual Conduct Against a Child in the First Degree, a Class B violent felony and Endangering the Welfare of a Child, a Class A misdemeanor. The defendant is due back in court for sentencing on January 23, 2024, and he faces up to 25 years in prison. The defendant is being represented by James O’Rourke, Esq.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Renee Pardo and Tara Laterza of the Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Bureau, with investigative assistance from Detective Adolfo Berrios of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Special Victims Section.
Criminal complaints and indictments are merely accusatory instruments. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.