A borough resident this week was convicted of having sexual contact with two pre-adolescence sisters on five separate occasions in their Ozone Park home in 2009 and 2013, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Melchor Evangelista, 42, was convicted on Monday of three counts of first-degree criminal sexual act and one count each of first-degree attempted rape, first-degree sexual abuse, first-degree attempted sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.
According to trial testimony, Evangelista engaged in a sexual act with a 6-year-old girl whom he knew on three separate occasions between June and August 2009, as well as attempted to engage in sexual intercourse with the victim during the same time period. Too afraid to tell anyone what happened, the victim waited until December 2013 to confide in her mother. Shortly thereafter, the mother asked the victim’s younger sister, who was then 10 years old, if anyone had touched her; the sister disclosed that she awoke one night in August 2013 to find Evangelista in her bed and that he had touched her private parts.
“A jury has convicted the defendant of being a sexual predator who victimized two young girls and betrayed the trust of their parents who had placed their daughters into his care,” Brown said. “As such, he has proven himself to be a threat to children and a clear and present danger to society in general. His conviction ensures that he is punished for his crimes.”
Evangelista, who had been free on $50,000 bail since January 2014, had his bail revoked following the verdict, and was ordered remanded. Sentencing is set for April 28, at which time Evangelista faces up to 25 years in prison on each of the criminal sexual act charges; 15 years on the attempted rape charge; seven years on the sexual abuse charge; four years on the attempted sexual abuse charge; and one year on the endangering charge.
