PHOTO: Parent charged with sexually abusing boys, dog

Cesar-Gonzalez-Mugaburu-620x400MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — A suburban New York foster parent who cared for up to 140 boys over the past two decades has been charged with sexually abusing seven of them and prosecutors say there are more victims.

Cesar Gonzalez-Mugaburu, 59, of Ridge, New York, on Long Island, was ordered held on $1 million bond Friday after being charged in a 17-count indictment with child endangerment and sexual misconduct. He is accused of victimizing children as young as 8. He is also accused of sexually abusing a female dog in front of a child last September.

His attorney did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.

Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota told The Associated Press that Gonzalez-Mugaburu earned as much as $18,000 a month as a foster parent for the children. He cared for between six and eight children at a time since at least 1996, the prosecutor said.

Some of the foster children, some of whom were developmentally disabled, were subsequently adopted by Gonzalez-Mugaburu, although Spota said he did not immediately have details on how many.

He said prosecutors were only able to charge Gonzalez-Mugaburu with abusing seven children in the indictment unsealed Friday, because statute of limitations laws prevent filing charges involving other victims. He said two boys came forward in January and reported the alleged abuse to a caseworker, who contacted police. Detectives then launched a wider investigation.

“We know there were other victims,” Spota said.

He said that when Gonzalez-Mugaburu was brought in for questioning, he called a 28-year-old adoptee. When that adoptee went to a police station, detectives told him about the allegations and that man began cooperating with investigators.

“That opened the floodgates,” the prosecutor said.

.

Spota said it appears the boys were sheltered from the community, and were not permitted to participate in extracurricular activities at school, nor any athletics programs. He said he children were fed twice a day and were made to eat on the floor.

“He’s trying to devise every way he can to keep these kids contained,” Spota said.

Authorities the foster children were placed in his care by Brentwood, New York, non-profit St. Christopher Ottilie and the New York City Administration for Children Services. Rose Anello, a spokeswoman for St. Christopher Ottilie, says the organization placed 71 children with Gonzalez-Mugaburu over the past 19 years.

“This investigation should expand well beyond the offender to those who helped to enable this offender to access potential victims,” said Laura Ahearn, a victims’ rights advocate and executive director of Parents for Megan’s Law, which tracks alleged sex offenders.

Spota said the investigation is ongoing, and will include how the alleged abuse went undetected for so long.

Gonzalez-Mugaburu had no prior arrests, prosecutors said; Spota said investigators also are trying to determine how the suspect was permitted to be a foster parent, because he said the man has no employment record.

“He claims to be self-employed,” Spota said.

Statements issued by both the ACS and the non-profit said they were cooperating with the ongoing investigation.

-news.yahoo

ABOUT: Nana Kwesi Coomson

[email protected]

An Entrepreneur, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communications Executive and Philanthropist. Editor-in-Chief of www.233times.com. A Senior Journalist with Ghanaian Chronicle Newspaper. An alumnus of Adisadel College where he read General Arts. His first degree is in Bachelor of Arts - Political Science (major) and History (minor) from the University of Ghana. He holds MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Energy with Public Relations (PR) from the Robert Gordon University in the United Kingdom. He is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow who studied at Clark Atlanta University in USA on the Business and Entrepreneurship track.

View all posts by: Nana Kwesi Coomson  

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ABOUT 233TIMES

233times is a Ghanaian media house which serves as a major source of exclusive interviews ,music and video downloads, news and more.

233times reports on major events,news covering entertainment, politics, sports, business, technology, etc from within Ghana, Africa and beyond.

We have a platform for the amateur artistes to portray their staggering talents ...more...

CONTACT US

For further enquiries, please contact us via our contact us page link: CONTACT

WE ON SOCIAL MEDIA. FOLLOW US


To advertise with us or make enquiries, please visit 233times.net/advertise or call Selorm (Selorm) | Selorm (Nana Kwesi)