Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Michael Clark, 35, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing his former girlfriend’s young daughter over a period of four years. The defendant was convicted last month of course of sexual conduct against a child, a penal law statute authored by DA Katz during her tenure in the State Assembly. The victim was five years old when the abuse began, shortly after the defendant moved in with the child’s mother.

District Attorney Katz said, “The defendant used his access to this young victim to subject her to abhorrent sexual conduct. Protecting our children from predators is not just a priority for my administration but has remained a focal point during my entire career in public service. I commend the young victim on her bravery and strength in helping to hold her abuser fully accountable for his heinous actions. The defendant will now spend a lengthy prison term as punishment.”

Clark, of Yates Road in Jamaica, Queens, was convicted by a jury on July 21, 2022 after a week-long jury trial of course of sexual conduct against a child in the first degree. On Thursday, August 4, 2022, Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit Durant imposed a sentence of 15 years in prison to be followed by 15 years post release supervision. The defendant will also be required to register as a sex offender.

Approximately between November 2011 and April 2015, the defendant repeatedly sexually abused the victim while he was living with the victim and her mother, his then girlfriend, inside their apartment on Sutphin Boulevard in Jamaica, Queens. Shortly after the defendant moved in, when the complainant was five years old, Clark started sneaking into the child’s bedroom in the evenings while her mother slept in the room next door. The defendant subjected the victim to sexual conduct on a repeated basis over the course of approximately four years, until she was nine years old, including instances of sexual intercourse and oral sexual conduct.

In April 2020, the child finally disclosed the history of abuse to her mother, who immediately reported the crime to the authorities.

Assistant District Attorney Carolynn Fitzgerald of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau is prosecuting the case 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.