FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 2005

DA BROWN: SCOUTMASTER CHARGED WITH SEXUAL ABUSE OF 13-YEAR-OLD BOY SCOUT

Faces Up to 25 years in Prison

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown today announced that the scoutmaster of a Great Neck Boy Scout troop is being held on charges of sexually abusing and taking sexually explicit photographs of a 13-year-old member of his troop on numerous occasions over the past several years.

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Ronald E. Occhipinti, of 58-14 East Hampton Boulevard in Bayside Queens. Occhipinti, who works for a Long Island burglar alarm system company and is the scoutmaster of Troop 183 in Great Neck, is presently being held pending arraignment on one count of Course of Sexual Conduct Against a Child in the First Degree, five counts of Use of a Child in a Sexual Performance, five counts of Criminal Sexual Act in the Second Degree, five counts of Promoting a Sexual Performance by a Child, 20 counts of Possessing an Obscene Sexual Performance by a Child, 20 counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child, and five counts of Sexual Abuse in the Second Degree. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

District Attorney Brown said, “The allegations are shocking. A scoutmaster is in a unique position to guide young boys through some very difficult years. In this case, the defendant is accused of cruelly using his position of trust and responsibility to sexually abuse and take advantage of an innocent boy. Those who commit such heinous crimes such as alleged in this case are put on notice that my office will vigorously prosecute such cases to the fullest extent of the law.”

According to the District Attorney, the defendant is being charged with bringing the victim to his residence on various occasions between September 1, 2003, and August 6, 2005, and having the child remove his clothes and pose in lewd and obscene position, which the defendant then photographed. According to the complaint, the defendant is also accused of sexually abusing the victim by performed sexual acts on him.

The defendant is being held pending arraignment in Queens Criminal Court.

District Attorney Brown thanked Detective James A. Held and the NYPD Child Sexual Exploitation Unit for their assistance in the investigation.

Assistant District Attorney Frank DeGaetano, Supervisor of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Unit, is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Marjory D. Fisher, Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Charles A. Testagrossa.

It should be noted that criminal charges are merely accusations and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.