A Long Island man whose wife runs a daycare out of their home has been indicted for allegedly sexually abusing a half-dozen children on the property. Greg Cergol with the latest.
A Long Island man has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing eight young children who were enrolled at the unlicensed day care his wife ran from their home, the district attorney said.
Angel Tacuri admitted to abusing the children, who ranged in age from 3 to 10 years old, at the home in Patchogue between 2010 and 2015, when the day care shut down, according to Suffolk County DA Raymond Tierney. He was initially charged and indicted in June 2021 with sexually abusing six children, but two more victims came to light since then.
Prosecutors previously said two of the victims were related to Tacuri; others were from families that paid for care.
"This defendant exploited these innocent child victims for his own depraved gratification through the access available to him at his wife’s unlicensed day care center," said Tierney. "No guilty plea will ever ameliorate the trauma inflicted on these victims, but at the very least, this plea holds him responsible for his actions and prevents him from causing more harm to others."
Tacuri, an immigrant from Ecuador in the United States on a green card, pleaded guilty to six counts of sex crimes. He will be sentenced on June 16 to 20 years in prison, Tierney said. He initially faced up to 50 years in prison had he been convicted on all 15 counts he faced.
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