Scoutmaster's Sexual Abuse Earns Him 20-Year Term

Ronald E. Occhipinti was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sexually abusing two Boy Scouts in Troop 183 of which he was scoutmaster.

A Bayside resident who served as the scoutmaster of a Great Neck Boy Scout troop has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for sexually abusing and taking sexually explicit photographs of two 13year-old members of his troop on numerous occasions over the past several years. The incidents took place in the Little Neck church where the troop held its weekly meetings and at the scoutmaster's residence.

Ronald E. Occhipinti, 46, of 58-14 East Hampton Blvd., Bayside, who was employed by a Long Island burglar alarm system company while serving as the scoutmaster of Troop 183 in Great Neck, pleaded guilty on May 8 to course of sexual conduct against a child in the first and second degrees before Acting Queens Supreme Court Justice Pauline A. Mullings, who imposed a determinate sentence of 20 years in prison on June 12.

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said that Occhipinti admitted in court that on various occasions between Sept. 1, 2003, and Aug. 6, 2005, he brought one victim to his residence and the other victim to a church before Boy Scout or leadership meetings-almost every week over an 11-month period- and performed sexual acts on both victims. He also admitted that he had the children remove their clothes and pose in lewd and obscene positions, which he then photographed.

"The defendant abused not only his two young victims who looked up to him as a leader, a responsible adult, but exploited the trust of their parents who unknowingly placed their children in harm's way by committing their care to him," Brown said. "In the process, he destroyed his victims' innocence and scarred them emotionally and psychologically for life. The lengthy sentence imposed by the court is more than warranted."

Brown expressed his appreciation to Detective James A. Held and the New York City Police Department Child Sexual Exploitation Unit for Held's and the unit's assistance in the investigation.