FROM: HOLLEY CARNRIGHT
DATE: JUNE 14, 2017
RE: PRESS RELEASE - DISTRICT ATTORNEY D. HOLLEY CARNRIGHT ANNOUNCES: INTRUDER IN BURGLARIES OF SUNY NEW PALTZ STUDENTS SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS
On Wednesday, June 14, Kevin Guerrero, 20, was sentenced to fifteen years in state prison with five years post release supervision. Guerrero will have to register under the New York State Sexual Offender Registration Act.
Guerrero, a corporal in the United States Marine Corps, pled guilty to Burglary in the Second Degree and Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, both violent felony offenses on March 31, 2017. In doing so Guerrero admitted to entering a SUNY New Paltz student apartment without permission while having the intent to commit a crime inside. He also admitted subjecting a student to sexual contact while she was physically helpless. The legal theory of physical helplessness is simply that the victim was asleep at the time of the crime began.
Guerrero was accused of unlawfully entering 3 off campus student residences with intent to commit a crime inside and attempting to unlawfully enter a fourth with the intent to commit a crime inside. He is also accused of unlawfully entering a local business with intent to commit a crime inside and subjecting a person to sexual contact in one of the residences while that person was asleep.
All offenses are alleged to have occurred in the early morning hours of September 4, 2016 in the Village of New Paltz. Occupants of all residences were sleeping at the time of Guerrero’s entry. Guerrero was arrested on September 7, 2016, following an investigation by the New Paltz Police Department.
District Attorney Holley Carnright noted “It is especially disheartening when a member of the military who has endeavored to protect all of us, breaks the law. Lance Corporal Guerrero’s actions in the early morning hours of September 4, 2016 are abhorrent and cannot be excused even by his service to this country”. Carnright also lauded the New Paltz Police Department for their swift and tireless investigation which identified and located the defendant in a very short period of time.
Special Victims Bureau, Chief Katherine R. Van Loan, handled the case for the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office. The defendant is represented by Mariann Connolly of the Ulster County Public Defender’s Office.