MONTICELLO, NY — Liberty resident Dennis Gonzalez has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison and 10 years of post-release supervision for sexually abusing two girls.

Gonzalez, 55, admitted to engaging in oral sexual contact with a 16-year-old girl in the fall of 2014, and sexually touching a 10-year-old girl the previous year at a home in Liberty.

The prosecutor, Sullivan County Executive Assistant District Attorney Julie Mohl asked Supreme Court Justice Stephan Schick to sentence Gonzalez to the maximum under the plea agreement, seven-and-a-half years in prison, and Gonzalez’s attorney asked the judge to consider less prison time. Schick imposed the maximum.

 Gonzalez was arrested after an investigation by the Family Violence Response Team, which is comprised of investigators from the New York State Police and the Sullivan County District Attorney’s Office as well as Child Protective Service workers from Sullivan County’s Department of Family Services and prosecutors from the district attorney’s office.

District Attorney Jim Farrell said, “This team works very hard to protect our children in Sullivan County and has been very successful in bringing justice to those who abuse children.  This case is yet another example of the valuable and important work that they engage in on a daily basis. These types of cases, where children are hurt and abused, are not easy, but the members of the team are dedicated to the cause of justice and work very hard to achieve that goal.” 

Gonzalez was also ordered to register as a sex offender and permanent orders of protection were granted. Farrell said the post-release supervision is an important component of all sexually based offender sentences and provides a supervision mechanism that could result in re-incarceration if the defendant fails to abide by all of the conditions set forth by parole.