A Long Island dad was found guilty on Friday of sexually abusing his 8-year-old daughter over of the course of about a year.
A jury convicted the 33-year-old Bay Shore man of first-degree course of sexual conduct against a a child, incest in the first degree, and endangering the welfare of a child, according to Suffolk County prosecutors.
He’s due back in court on Nov. 26 for sentencing, where he faces up to 25 years in prison.
The district attorney’s office did not name the defendant to protect the identity of the victim.
Evidence presented at trial argued the defendant repeatedly committed sexual acts against his daughter between October 2021 and November 2022, when she lived separately with her mother and father on an alternating weekly schedule.
Despite the man allegedly threatening to “beat her if she told anyone,” the victim made her mother aware of the crimes when she noticed her daughter getting “extremely anxious about upcoming visits with her father,” prosecutors said.
Together, the mother and daughter reported the incidents to police, and the defendant was arrested on Nov. 8, 2022.
District Attorney Raymond Tierney praised the young victim for showing “extraordinary courage in coming forward and telling the truth,” leading to the suspect’s conviction.
He expressed his hoped that Friday’s verdict would encourage other victims who are “quietly suffering from abuse” to contact authorities.
