East Hampton Man Pleads Guilty To Raping Child, 11: DA

EAST HAMPTON, NY —An East Hampton man, 20, pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree rape after engaging in sexual intercourse with a child, beginning when she was 11 years old, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said.

The District Attorney is not naming the man in order to protect the identity of the child.

According to court documents and admissions during his guilty plea allocution, the man was 18 years old at the time he met the child, the DA said. He began to communicate with the child over the phone and told her that she was his girlfriend, Tierney said.

In November, 2021, he began to ask the child if she would have sex with him, and in December, 2021, he raped her for the first time, the DA said. He raped the girl about eight times between December, 2021 and January ,2022, Tierney said.

The sexual abuse ended when the child told her aunt, who notified the police, Tierney said.

He was later arrested by the East Hampton Town Police Department, Tierney said.

On Wednesday, the man pleaded guilty to first-degree rape, a Class B violent felony, before County Court Judge Karen M. Wilutis, the DA said.

He is due back in court on March 15, and is expected to be sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by 15 years of post-release supervision, the DA said. He will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison, the DA added.

He is being represented by attorney Andrew Friedman, who did not immediately return a request for comment.

"This defendant groomed an 11-year-old child for the specific purpose of sexually abusing her," 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."