An Ozone Park man last Thursday was sentenced to 17 years in prison for having sexual contact with two young sisters on five separate occasions in their residence in 2009 and 2013, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Melchor Evangelista, 42, was convicted after trial last month 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. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the first victim and a consecutive term of two years for the younger sister.
District Attorney Brown said that, according to trial testimony, Evangelista engaged in a sexual act on three separate occasions between June and August 2009 with a 6-year-old girl whom he knew, as well as attempting 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.
“As a sexual predator, the defendant has now been held accountable for victimizing two young girls and betraying the trust of their parents who had placed their daughters into his care,” Brown said. “As he has proven himself to be a threat to children and a clear and present danger to society in general, the sentence meted out by the court is appropriate.”
