Long Island man sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping his stepdaughter since she was seven years old

A Long Island man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for repeatedly raping his young stepdaughter for nearly a decade, officials announced Monday.

The cruel abuse began in 2014, when the girl was just seven years old, and escalated to anal rape, the 36-year-old man said in his guilty plea in court, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

To protect the identity of the victim, the name of the accused was not disclosed.

During the nearly decade-long gruesome abuse, the Center Moriches resident sent the victim obscene pictures of himself and demanded that the girl do the same. To force the young girl to comply with his demands, he “threatened to subject the child to frequent anal rape,” authorities said.

The girl’s decades-long terror only ended in 2023, after the then teenage victim told her mother about the abuse.

The two then devised a plan to catch him red-handed. In May 2023, the mother said she was going to work, but returned minutes later through an unlocked side door.

She then saw the man “standing over the victim completely naked and attempting to rape her.” She managed to stop him from “completing the act” and called the authorities, who took him into custody.

Late last month, the defendant pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual abuse of a child, a Class B violent felony. On Monday, Acting Superior Court Judge Karen Wilutis sentenced him to 20 years in prison, followed by 20 years of probation upon release.

“While no punishment can fully heal the physical and emotional wounds, this sentence will ensure that the defendant can no longer abuse this survivor, her family, or anyone else,” District Attorney Raymond Tierney said in a statement. “The perpetrator will be in prison where he belongs.”

His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday morning.

If you or someone you know is experiencing sexual abuse, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit rainn.org for confidential support.

Children, teens and their families are asked to call or text Childhelp’s National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) or visit ChildHelpHotline.org.