Sentencing postponed for former MercyFirst youth counselor in sex abuse case

Sentencing was postponed today for a former MercyFirst youth counselor in connection with a sex abuse case.

News 12 Staff

Jul 23, 2019, 6:24 PM

Updated 1,732 days ago

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Sentencing was postponed today for a former MercyFirst youth counselor in connection with a sex abuse case.
Miguel Cutignola was in court Tuesday for sentencing after pleading guilty to one count of a criminal sex act as part of a plea deal.
Cutignola is accused of sexually abusing an undocumented 15-year-old that was in his care back in 2017. MercyFirst is a privately run shelter that gets federal funding to provide care for undocumented children in New York.
According to a Univision 41 investigation, the alleged victim is a boy from Honduras who came to the U.S. six years ago.
Published reports say Cutignola was expected to get up to 10 years of probation and no jail time, but the judge said in court he was made aware that the victim and his aunt may be having second thoughts about agreeing to a plea deal.
The judge postponed sentencing until August.
News 12 reached out to MercyFirst for comment.
 


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