Crime & Safety
Sexual Predator Pleads Guilty, Could Spend Life Behind Bars
Fidel Castro-Brito was nabbed in the biggest sex abuse investigation ever handled by East Hampton Town police.
Fidel Castro-Brito, charged with 70 felonies related to child sex abuse in what was the biggest case the East Hampton Town Police Department put together, pleaded guilty on Thursday.
Appearing before Suffolk County Criminal Court Judge Barbara Kahn, he pleaded guilty to the two indictments brought against him last year. She promised a sentence of at least 20 years to life with 20 years of post-release supervision.
The sentence recommendation from the Suffolk County District Attorney's office is the maximum allowable by law of 50 years to life. He will be sentenced on June 21.
In April 2012, Castro-Brito was charged with seven sex crimes, including three charges of first-degree rape, after a man said he saw Castro-Brito jumping out of his 12-year-old daughter's bedroom window. He told police he had confronted Castro-Brito months earlier on Facebook and advised him to stay away from his daughter.
Detective Tina Giles, who is in charge of the department's Juvenile Aid Bureau, suspected there were more victims, and continued to investigate Castro-Brito after a grand jury indictment came down.
Her investigation uncovered three more victims and sexual performances by children. 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 under the age of 11.
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 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. “We must also acknowledge the work Detective 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.”
Judge Kahn promised him the following sentences in exchange for his guilty plea. On the first indictment.
- 20 years to life on the first two counts of predatory sexual assault against a child
- 20 years and 20 years post-release supervision on counts the rape charges
- 1 year for acting in a manner injurious to a child
- 20 years to life for each of the five counts of predatory sexual assault against a child
- 20 years and 20 years post-release supervision for two counts of first-degree rape
- 15 years and 15 years post-release supervision on 17 counts of the use of a child in a sexual performance
- 7 years and 10 years post-release supervision on a charge of attempted use of a child in a sexual performance
- 7 years and 10 years post-release supervision for 17 counts of promoting a sexual performance
- 7 years and 10 years post-release supervision for sexual abuse in the first degree
- 4 years and 10 years post-release supervision for 23 counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child
- 1 year for 3 counts of endangering the welfare of a child
The Town of East Hampton praised the detective who led the case against Castro-Brito. Giles, a 27-year veteran, was honored with the police department's top award for 2012.
Chief Ed Ecker called it a "chilling" case back in January when she was named Officer of the Year. "Even in the DA's office, or with detectives who have been doing this for a long time, no one had ever seen anything like this before," he said.
"It was great police work," Chief Ed Ecker said on Friday. "And we'll never know this, but how many other victims would have been there if this guy wasn't stopped?"
Ecker said if it wasn't for the father who came forward after catching Castro-Brito and for Giles, who took the case to the next level, Castro-Brito may never have received such a long sentence.
"I've never met any of the young girls, the victims, but I understand they are all doing pretty well. I would like to thank Mary Bromley for her help on that," he said. Bromley, an East Hampton psychotherapist, works with the police department and victims of abuse. She counseled Katie Beers, a victim of sexual abuse and kidnapping who came to live in Springs after she was rescued at 10.
At the annual Southampton Kiwanis Club dinner, where top officers from around the East End are lauded, Giles also received the Howard Stock Memorial Award, becoming the first woman in the 43-year history to receive the top award.
In February, the town board gave her a proclamation, in part, because of the case. The legislature also recognized her work in March.
Wilkinson said he was pleased to hear about the sentence. "It confirms all the praise that the department and the detective unit and Detective Giles got earlier," he said on Friday. "The sentencing is a final confirmation of all the hard work Detective Giles and the police department did to bring this predator to justice."
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