FATHER CONVICTED OF SEXUALLY ABUSING HIS DAUGHTER

(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that a 56-year-old man[1] residing in the Town of Islip was found guilty after a jury trial of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree and other related charges, for sexually abusing his daughter on multiple occasions, beginning when she was 15 years old.

“The verdict today holds the defendant accountable for his horrific actions,” said District Attorney Tierney. “Our thoughts remain with the victim as she continues to heal from this unimaginable trauma.”

The evidence at trial established that in February 2023, following an incident of sexual abuse by the defendant, the then 17-year-old victim disclosed the abuse to one of her teachers. Law enforcement spoke with the victim who reported that the defendant began grooming her in 2020 when she was 15 years old.

The police recovered the shorts that the victim had been wearing during the February 2023 incident and sent them for DNA analysis, which revealed the presence of the defendant’s semen. Members of the Suffolk County Police Department arrested the defendant on February 17, 2023.

On December 12, 2024, the defendant was convicted of the following charges after a jury trial, heard before Supreme Court Justice Timothy P. Mazzei:

• Two counts of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, Class D violent felonies; and
• One count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child, a Class A misdemeanor. 

Judge Mazzei remanded the defendant until sentencing, which is scheduled for January 13, 2025. The defendant faces up to 14 years in prison, and he will also have to register as a sex offender. He is being represented by Don Savatta, Esq.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Melissa Grier and Johanna Poremba of the Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Bureau, and the investigation was conducted by Detective Lisa Hofelich of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Special Victims Squad.

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Criminal complaints and indictments are merely accusatory instruments.

Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.

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