GOSHEN – An Orange County Court jury has found a Middletown man guilty of sexually abusing and raping a child.
Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler said the jury found Cecilio Navarro, also known as Cecilio Navarro Rodriguez, 35, of Middletown, guilty of predatory sexual assault against a child and second- and third-degree rape, all felonies.
The jury reached its verdict Tuesday.
Navarro is being held without bail in Orange County Jail, pending further court action.
Hoovler said that during the trial, which began March 7, prosecutors argued that evidence showed that between Dec. 1, 2016 and Oct. 27, 2018, Navarro engaged in two or more acts of sexual conduct with a child less than 13 years old. Prosecutors also argued that evidence showed that in 2019, Navarro had sexual intercourse with a child less than 15 years old, and in 2021 he had sexual intercourse with a child less than 17 years old.
Navarro was arrested by the Orange County Child Abuse Investigation Unit and has been incarcerated since June 14, 2022.
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Navarro faces a sentence of 25 years to life in state prison on the predatory sexual assault charge, seven years in prison on the second-degree rape charge and four years in prison on the third-degree rape charge.
Hoovler said his office will recommend that Navarro be sentenced to the legal maximum on all three charges, and that the sentences be ordered to run consecutively, for a total sentence of 36 years to life in state prison.
“There really were a lot of issues, and it took the jury seven hours to convict him,” said Benjamin Greenwald, Navarro’s attorney. “We gave them a lot to think about.”
“This result would not have been possible without the work of the Orange County Child Abuse Investigation Unit, victim advocates from Fearless! and the bravery of the victim, who was forced to confront this defendant in a very public forum after he refused to take responsibility for his actions,” Hoovler said in a statement released by his office.
Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record, Poughkeepsie Journal and The Journal News/lohud. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com or on Twitter @mikerandall845.
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Middletown man convicted of sexually assaulting and raping a child