Steve Pigeon, the previous Erie County Democratic Social gathering Chairman, was sentenced to 364 days in jail after admitting to the sexual abuse of a kid greater than seven years in the past.
The previous political determine had pleaded responsible final month to at least one depend of Sexual Abuse within the First Diploma, a category D violent felony.
The case, which took a major toll on the area people, got here to a decision when Pigeon, 63, acquired his sentence early Friday morning.
Erie County District Lawyer John Flynn underlined the gravity of the crime, which occurred between November and December 2016, and concerned a toddler who was 9-year-old on the time, 2WGRZ reported.
Justice William Boller of the State Supreme Courtroom accepted a plea settlement, endorsed by the sufferer’s household. District Lawyer Flynn famous that this resolution was made to keep away from subjecting the sufferer to the stress of testifying in courtroom.
In a honest and transferring assertion learn by prosecutors through the sentencing, the sufferer, who was a toddler when the crime occurred, expressed the profound impression the abuse had on her life, stating, “He took away practically my whole childhood… I wish that Gerald Steven Pigeon would spend the rest of his life in prison for what he did to me, but we don’t always get exactly what we want.”
“The stress of a trial that we almost had was practically debilitating,” the sufferer wrote, including, “The day I found out what had actually happened to me, I remember feeling so disgusted and scared. I wanted to go tell my mom, but I remember Steve saying that if I told anyone, he would hurt my mother.”
Pigeon, who remained silent earlier than the choose throughout sentencing, shall be required to register as a intercourse offender upon his launch. Moreover, the courtroom issued a remaining order of safety for the sufferer and the sufferer’s mom, which shall be maintained till December 2031.
This isn’t the primary time the previous Democrat chairman has been concerned in a scandal. According to WKBW, “The former Erie County Democratic Chairman also previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to arrange illegal donations to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2014 re-election campaign. He was sentenced to four months in prison in connection to that case in July 2022.”
