NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A Queens karate teacher was sentenced to seven years in prison on Tuesday for raping a 12-year-old girl who took lessons at the studio where he taught, prosecutors said.
Hector Quinchi, 37, of Woodside, pleaded guilty to first-degree rape and endangering the welfare of a child in July, the Queens County District Attorney's office said. On Tuesday, he was sentenced to seven years in prison, with an additional 10 years' post-release supervision.
"This defendant was supposed to teach this youngster how to defend herself, but he was the one from whom she needed protection," District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement. "He manipulated a child too young to consent to sex. The court has sentenced him to prison for his reprehensible actions."
Quinchi was teaching at Hugo's Taekwondo in Sunnyside, Queens in Aug. 2019 when he began sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl who took lessons there, prosecutors said.
"(Quinchi) touched her intimately, kissed her and in Oct. 2019, had sexual intercourse with her," the DA's office said in a release.
He turned himself into police after learning the girl had told her parents about the abuse, according to the DA's office.
