RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (1010 WINS) — A 37-year-old Riverhead man was sentenced to 23 years in prison for sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
Jose Carabantes Pineda was arrested in March 2021 after a passerby heard him sexually abusing a child in his minivan outside Big Lots and called the police.
The child, who Carabantes Pineda had bound with duct tape in the back of his van, screamed and banged on the windows of the vehicle as she tried to fight off her attacker.
The good Samaritan heard the commotion, knocked on the tinted windows and called the police.
When Carabantes Pineda left the parking lot, the good Samaritan followed the minivan to his home.
Officers from the Riverhead Police Department arrested Carabantes Pineda. Investigators found the duct tape used to bind the child’s hands in his vehicle and medical personnel found DNA evidence of the rape while examining the victim.
Further investigation found Carabantes Pineda had been sexually abusing the child for months before he was arrested.
“The bravery of this young victim to fight back against her abuser, the quick reaction of a Good Samaritan, and the swift response by the Riverhead Police Department are the reason this predator was apprehended,” said Suffolk District Attorney Raymond Tierney. “The fact that there are individuals who prey on innocent children like this, is just incomprehensible. But make no mistake, once we catch them, like this defendant, we will do everything in our power to ensure they serve a lengthy prison sentence.”
Carabantes Pineda pleaded guilty to a criminal sexual act in February.
In addition to the 23-year sentence, he will be subject to 20 years post-release supervision.
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