Press Release
QUEENS KARATE TEACHER SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR RAPING 12-YEAR-OLD STUDENT
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz today announced that Hector Quinchi, of Woodside, Queens has been sentenced to 7 years in prison after pleading guilty to rape and other charges. The 37-year-old martial arts instructor had repeated sexual contact with an underage victim between August and October 2019 in the Tae Kwon Do studio where he taught.
District Attorney Melinda Katz said, “This defendant was supposed to teach this youngster how to defend herself, but he was the one from whom she needed protection. He manipulated a child too young to consent to sex. The Court has sentenced him to prison for his reprehensible actions. My Office will not tolerate adults who abuse their positions of trust to victimize children.”
In July, Quinchi pleaded guilty to rape in the first degree and endangering the welfare of a child before Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter. This morning Justice Buchter sentenced the defendant to 7 years in prison, to be followed by 10 years’ post release supervision. The defendant will also be required to register as a sex offender after his release.
According to the charges, the defendant taught at Hugo’s Tae Kwon Do Studio on Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside, Queens, where the 12-year-old took karate lessons. On multiple occasions in August 2019, the defendant had sexual contact with the victim. He touched her intimately, kissed her and in October 2019, had sexual intercourse with her.
The defendant turned himself in to police soon after learning the youngster had told her parents about the abuse.
The investigation was conducted by Detective Daniel Schmidt of the New York City Police Department’s Queens Special Victims Unit.
Assistant District Attorney George Kanellopoulos of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau, prosecuted the case, with assistance from Child Advocacy Center Unit Chief Alison L. Andrews, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Eric C. Rosenbaum, Bureau Chief, Debra Lynn Pomodore and Brian Hughes, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.