Post by WaTcHeR on Feb 3, 2006 13:01:24 GMT -5
02/03/2006 - WHITE PLAINS — A former New York City police detective who once helped track child pornography admitted yesterday that he raped a 13-year-old girl and sexually abused two 11-year-old cousins at a Yonkers hotel last year.
Brian Tuitt, 39, who lived in Orange County, was a family friend of the girls and was visiting with them at the Royal Regency Hotel in Yonkers early last February when the abuse occurred. He still faces similar charges in Bronx and Orange counties involving daughters of another friend.
Tuitt appeared hesitant as he answered questions by Assistant District Attorney Mary Clark-DiRusso, finally pleading guilty to first-degree rape and first-degree sexual abuse. The longest pause came when the prosecutor asked if he was pleading guilty "because you are in fact guilty?" He eventually answered "yes."
Acting state Supreme Court Justice Richard Molea said he would sentence Tuitt to five years in state prison and scheduled sentencing for March 30.
While authorities contend Tuitt did whatever he could to put himself in a position to molest children, defense lawyer Peter Brill said his client had good intentions in befriending single mothers who needed his help. He said the hesitation during the plea allocution was a result of Tuitt's difficulty "reconciling the two parts of his life" — his work as a police officer and the crimes.
The girls in the Yonkers case were visiting from Pennsylvania, staying with the mother of one of them while the woman was in New York for business. Later that day, when he returned to work in the Bronx, Tuitt was arrested by New York City police on charges that he fondled the 6-year-old daughter of another woman he had befriended. He was later charged with abusing the girl's 11-year-old sister in the Bronx and also Orange County.
Tuitt, an 18-year veteran officer, was assigned to the New York Police Department's Community Affairs Division. He volunteered at children's camps in Los Angeles and Croatia, and worked in the mid-1990s in the department's cybercop unit tracking child pornography.
Brill said he is working on a plea deal in the other counties and is hopeful that judges there will not add any more prison time than Molea has promised. Tuitt was returned to the Westchester County jail to await sentencing.
Brian Tuitt, 39, who lived in Orange County, was a family friend of the girls and was visiting with them at the Royal Regency Hotel in Yonkers early last February when the abuse occurred. He still faces similar charges in Bronx and Orange counties involving daughters of another friend.
Tuitt appeared hesitant as he answered questions by Assistant District Attorney Mary Clark-DiRusso, finally pleading guilty to first-degree rape and first-degree sexual abuse. The longest pause came when the prosecutor asked if he was pleading guilty "because you are in fact guilty?" He eventually answered "yes."
Acting state Supreme Court Justice Richard Molea said he would sentence Tuitt to five years in state prison and scheduled sentencing for March 30.
While authorities contend Tuitt did whatever he could to put himself in a position to molest children, defense lawyer Peter Brill said his client had good intentions in befriending single mothers who needed his help. He said the hesitation during the plea allocution was a result of Tuitt's difficulty "reconciling the two parts of his life" — his work as a police officer and the crimes.
The girls in the Yonkers case were visiting from Pennsylvania, staying with the mother of one of them while the woman was in New York for business. Later that day, when he returned to work in the Bronx, Tuitt was arrested by New York City police on charges that he fondled the 6-year-old daughter of another woman he had befriended. He was later charged with abusing the girl's 11-year-old sister in the Bronx and also Orange County.
Tuitt, an 18-year veteran officer, was assigned to the New York Police Department's Community Affairs Division. He volunteered at children's camps in Los Angeles and Croatia, and worked in the mid-1990s in the department's cybercop unit tracking child pornography.
Brill said he is working on a plea deal in the other counties and is hopeful that judges there will not add any more prison time than Molea has promised. Tuitt was returned to the Westchester County jail to await sentencing.