An East Northport man was sentenced to 23 years in prison after he was convicted last month of sexually abusing his great-niece, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Friday.
The abuse began in June 2015, at a celebration of the child’s graduation from kindergarten and continued until the last incident in May 2020.
“Sexual abuse has devastating and lifelong effects on anyone who is a victim of it, especially innocent children,” Tierney said. “I hope that the significant prison sentence imposed today is a deterrent to anyone who may want to prey on children.”
The District Attorney is not naming the defendan to protect the identity of the child victim.
The victim told her mother about the abuse in April 2022, when she was 12 years old, during a conversation concerning the victim’s depression and self-image. Her mother reported the abuse to the police, and the Suffolk County Police Department arrested the defendant on April 13, 2022.
On March 20, the defendant was convicted of 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, after a jury trial heard before Acting Supreme Court Justice Karen M. Wilutis.