By Dan Murphy
Last month, Westchester DA Mimi Rocah announced that her office had successfully prosectured the case of Patrick Patierno. Patierno, 54, of Yorktown, had been charged with sex abuse of an underage employee. Instead of agreeing to a plea offer from the DA, Patierno rolled the dice and went to trial. After expending the resources of the taxpayers of Westchester, Patierno was found guilty by a jury of his peers.
We wanted to learn more about this case, so we FOIL’d the records from the Ossining Police Department. Unfortunately, the records showed that what Patierno did was indeed what he was charged with.
Here are the details: On Jan. 14, 2021, a man walked into the Ossining Police department stating that a co-worker was sexually assaulted at Villarina’s in Ossining. According to the witness, Patierno came into his place of business complaining that a young, female employee told him she was going to quit. We later find out why this young woman did quit, but more on that later.
When the victim got to work she texted her co-worker what happened between her at Patierno. “He looked for me and I just thought he wanted to talk to me. Force me, did bad things. cnmg. He is a morbid old man. Forced me, ended up on top of my shorts. He’s crazy,” according to the police report.
After breaking down what his friend and co-worker had told him, “he realized that Pat had noconsensual sexual contact…and ejaculated on her shorts.”
The victims shorts were collected by the OPD, but they had been washed and were inconclusive for DNA. Eventually the victim came into the police department and gave the same statement to the OPD. The following day, Patierno was arrested for Sex Abuse in the First Degree.
According to the police report, “the suspect in this case had again made contact with the victim at her residence.
The victim added that she had been sexually harassed by Patierno for months before this incident, and stated that on two occassions, “Patrick called her into the office and forcibly pressed his body on to her and pinned her against a wall in the office.”
The victim, “explicitly and emphatically would refuse Patrick’s unwanted advances and tell him no she did not want him to touch her. It got to the point where she told Patrick that she was quitting and leaving as a result of the harassment.”
On the date of the incident, at 930 am, “Patrick stopped by her house to drop off a chess set. She allowed him inside at which point Patrick began questioning her as to why she was leaving and became incessant about it. When she told Patrick to leave he became enraged and threw himself on top of her.”
She “stated that Patrick tried to open her legs numerous times and lay on top of her, but she prevented him from doing so. She told Patrick to stop but he never listened. She stated that ultimately, he forcibly restrained her with one arm while thrusting his penis onto her buttocks and touching the intimate areas of her body with his other hand over her shorts. Patrick ultimately ejaculated on her,” according to the police report.
Four months later, the co-worker who the victim first told about the incident returned to the OPD to complain that Patierno was driving by his house and the victims house.
DA Rocah’s conviction of Patierno, for Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, a felony, and Unlawful Imprisonment in the Second Degree, a misdemeanor, he faces a sentence range of a minimum of 10 years of Sex Offender probation to a maximum of seven years in state prison. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.
Patierno is scheduled to be sentenced this week by Judge Barry Warhit. We await the sentence, and hope for justice for the victim.
In a related case, DA Rocah announced on June 16 that Anthony Urena, 25, of New Castle, was sentenced to 10 years probation for sexually abusing a woman while she was sleeping. On July 21, 2019, at approximately 4 a.m., Urena sexually abused the victim while she was sleeping in the defendant’s home in New Castle, according to the DA’s statement.
After an investigation by the New Castle and Ossining police departments, Urena was arrested in Nov. of 2020. He was charged with Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, a Felony, and the same charge that Patierno was found guilty of by a jury.
Urena also rolled the dice and went for a trial by jury, who convicted him. According to Rocah’s release, “The District Attorney’s office recommended a term of state prison.”
In a victim impact statement made to the court, the victim stated: “You have stolen something from me I will never get back. I felt violated. I felt scared… I felt betrayed. I felt embarrassed… No one should ever have the misfortune of blissfully thinking they can trust a friend who is not really a friend at all and would violate them given the opportunity. I hope this trial has aided in saving another girl from becoming a victim of sexual assault.”
Will Patierno get probation, or jail time? He has wiped his social media accounts of all photographs, including a photo of Patierno with a dozen teen agers outside of his store. We want justice, and for the public to know that sometimes a sexual predator, or creep or whatever you want to call him, is in the middle of your downtown, making your sandwich, but also harassing your teen age daughter.
