LI Man Sentenced To 20 Years For Raping 18-Year-Old: DA

BRENTWOOD, NY — A Brentwood man was sentenced to 20 years in prison, after he raped an 18 year-old as she was visiting family, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney announced on Wednesday.

Pelencho Contrera, 65, was found guilty of first-degree rape, first-degree sexual abuse, third-degree aggravated sexual abuse, and third-degree rape, after a jury returned a guilty verdict against him June before Honorable Karen Wilutis.

On August 6, 2018, Contrera asked the woman, who was 18 years old at the time and visiting family in Bay Shore, to go food shopping to the supermarket with him.

Instead he drove her to the Sunrise Inn in West Babylon where he threatened to kill her, her mother and her siblings if she did not do what he wanted, prosecutors said. Inside the motel room, the defendant then raped her, prosecutors said.

The woman was able to take a photograph with her cell phone of the Contrera's back after the
incident. She then returned home to her country, and returned to the United States about a year later to file a complaint at the Third Precinct on July 5, 2019, officials said.

The next day, on July 6, 2019, Det. Jack Balaguera of the Suffolk County Police’s Third Squad
went to the Sunrise Inn and obtained the registration card with Contrera's name on it from the date of the crime, August 6, 2018, officials said.

On July 7, 2019, the Contrera was placed under arrest at his house.

“Today I commend the victim for her courage. Her willingness to bravely come forward in courtto tell her story allowed this defendant to be held responsible for his actions,” said Tierney. “We take these crimes seriously and I hope this verdict and sentence in this case sends the message that victims of sexual abuse will be supported and heard and their abusers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”