Crime & Safety
Judge Puts Sexual Predator Away for 20 to Life
DA's office recommended 50 years to life for man who rape children under 12.
Fidel Castro-Brito, nabbed in the biggest sex abuse investigation ever handled by East Hampton Town police, was sentenced on Friday to 20 years to life behind bars.
In May, Castro-Brito pleaded guilty to 76 felonies, covering two indictments, related to child sex abuse.
The Suffolk County District Attorney's office recommended the maximum allowable by law — 50 years to life, but Judge Barbara Kahn promised Castro-Brito a sentence of at least 20 years to life with 20 years of post-release supervision as part of his plea deal.
“The guilty plea will spare these young girls the stress and anxiety of recounting, on the witness stand, what this child molester did to them,” District Attorney Thomas Spota said after the guilty plea. “We must also acknowledge the work Detective [Tina] Giles of the East Hampton Town PD whose tenacity in gathering the critical evidence of the defendant’s crimes is the reason he’s no longer a threat to the community.”
The cases against Castro-Brito began over a year ago when a father in Springs caught Castro-Brito jumping out of his 12-year-old daughter's bedroom window. He was charged with seven sex crimes, including three charges of first-degree rape.
Giles, a detective who is in charge of the department's Juvenile Aid Bureau, suspected there were more victims, and continued to investigate Castro-Brito even after a grand jury indictment came down.
Her investigation uncovered three more victims and evidence of sexual performances by children in his possession. The incidents took place between the summer of 2010 and the fall of 2011 in the Town of East Hampton for a period of at least three months for each child.
They were all under 11 years old at the time, police said.
Castro-Brito was indicted in November, and pleaded not guilty to all 71 charges against him. He was held without bail at the Suffolk County jail in Riverside.
The Town of East Hampton praised Giles, a 27-year veteran, for putting together the case. She was named Officer of the Year.
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