Thursday, August 14, 2008

Pleasant Valley, NY man sentenced to 15 to life for rape

Roger Katovich, a 33 year old Pleasant Valley, NY man, was sentenced to a prison term of 15 years to life in Poughkeepsie after a guilty plea in May for the predatory sexual assault of a Beekman, NY woman in her apartment back in January. Predatory sexual assault was a crime created by the New York legislature in 2006 to increase sentences for certain rapes to a maximum of 25 to life from the previous maximum of 8 1/3 to 25 years.

According to the 14 count indictment, Katovich, dressed in black except for a gray mask, was armed with a replica pistol when he forced himself into her Poughquag apartment, then forced his way into her, striking her with the pistol before raping her.

The Senior Assistant District Attorney, Marjorie Smith, said the victim and her family attended the sentencing.

“These are just lovely people. This is every woman’s worst nightmare. This woman was attacked brutally at gunpoint in her home…it was a very brutal rape case. A woman was a victim of a forcible rape in her own home.”

Smith said that the predatory sexual assault charge enabled judges to sentence rapists to the “time they deserved.”

“In this particular case, this man deserves to be in prison and supervised for the rest of his life.”

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