‘Unsafe touch’ lesson at school leads to Shirley man’s sexual abuse conviction

Eleven-year-old victim confided in her school social worker days after a safety presentation

One body-safety lesson ended four years of abuse.

A Shirley man has been convicted of sexually abusing his girlfriend’s daughter, starting when she was 7. Days after a class presentation on “unsafe touch,” she told a school social worker what he had been doing, prosecutors said.

The 34-year-old man was found guilty Tuesday of first-degree course of sexual conduct against a child. The jury also convicted him of endangering the welfare of a child.

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney’s office is not naming the defendant to protect the identity of the victim.

He faces up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 1.

“The defendant was entrusted with the care of this young child, only to violate that trust in the most abhorrent way,” Tierney said.

The abuse continued after he moved in with the mother and daughter in Shirley in December 2020, and lasted four more years.

In December 2024, when the girl was 11, her school guidance counselor gave students a presentation on what to do if they ever got an “unsafe touch.”

A few days later, the defendant abused the girl again. This time she told the school’s social worker. He was arrested the next day.

“I am grateful to this brave young victim for coming forward and thank the school’s administration for taking the time to teach children about body safety,” Tierney said. “One presentation gave this child the confidence to tell a trusted adult.”

The defendant is in the United States illegally, according to the DA’s office. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged a detainer to deport him after he serves his sentence.

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_{Top: Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney on Wednesday announced the conviction of a Shirley man who abused his girlfriend’s young daughter for four years (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy).}