LONG ISLAND (NY)
Newsday
BY JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER
STAFF WRITER
April 5, 2005
A Bible study leader was sentenced yesterday in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead to 8 years in prison for sexually abusing young girls.
Vicente Lopez, 45, of East Quogue, was convicted last month of four counts of first-degree sexual abuse and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, in a trial before Judge C. Randall Hinrichs.
His three victims were all younger than 11, with the youngest being 7, Assistant District Attorney Dana Brown said.
One incident took place at the Living Water Church in Aquebogue. The others occurred at his home, Brown said. The abuse took place between 2000 and 2002. The girls and their families were parishioners of the church, Brown said.
Lopez's attorney, Stephen Grossman of Sag Harbor, said his client borrowed the church basement for Bible study.