A 20-year-old East Hampton man has pleaded guilty to raping an 11-year-old girl eight times between December 2021 and January 2022, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney announced Wednesday.
The man's name is being withheld to protect the identity of the child. He was 18 years old, the D.A. said, when he first met the child, and told her she was his "girlfriend" in phone conversations. In November 2021 he began asking her to have sex with him. The abuse ended when the girl told her aunt what had happened; the aunt immediately contacted the police.
"This defendant groomed an 11-year-old child for the specific purpose of sexually abusing her," Mr. Tierney said. "Thanks to the collaboration with the East Hampton Town Police Department, we were able to secure both a conviction and significant prison sentence, while still sparing the child from having to testify."
The charge, first-degree rape, is a Class B violent felony. On March 15, Suffolk County District Court Justice Karen M. Wilutis is due to pronounce the sentence: 10 years in prison followed by 15 years of post-release supervision, with mandatory registration as a sex offender.
East Hampton Town Police Detective Frank Sokolowski provided investigative help on the case to the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Ashley Moruzzi of the Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Bureau.