Ex-Peekskill police officer Michael Agovino sentenced to prison for sexually abusing woman

A Peekskill native who was sexually abused numerous times by a city police officer got a chance to face him in court Thursday and let him know how she had turned back thoughts of suicide because she wasn't going to let him win.

But although Michael Agovino expressed regret for what he had done, she never got a direct apology from him.

Agovino, a 35-year-old married father of two young children, was sentenced to seven years in prison for a pattern of abuse in which he forced the woman to strip and groped her in her home over a seven-month period that ended only after she had the courage to record what was happening.

She told Westchester County Judge Susan Cacace how Agovino's abuse made her ashamed of her body, unable at times to care for her daughter and forced her to move out of Peekskill, where she lived for 49 years.

"It wasn't home anymore," she said.

Prosecutors Michelle Lopez and Jennifer Sculco had sought a 15-year prison term.

But Agovino was promised the seven-year sentence in March by state Supreme Court Justice Barry Warhit when he pleaded guilty to multiple charges that included second-degree burglary as a sexually motivated felony, second-degree burglary, first-degree sexual abuse, first-degree stalking as a sexually motivated felony and first-degree falsifying business records.

He must also register as a sex offender and will be subject to 15 years of post-release supervision after his prison stint.

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According to court records, on July 19, 2019, Agovino told the woman he was investigating a larceny she had allegedly committed. He met her and she denied stealing money and he told her she had to accompany him in his patrol car so he could search her apartment.

Once there, he searched the apartment and told her she had to strip so he could make sure she didn't have the money.

While she was naked he groped her breasts and told her they were beautiful, according to the felony complaint against Agovino. He said he would return to arrest her if he found that she had stolen the money.

He returned again in uniform at some point during the next three weeks and told her she was subject to arrest based on evidence in the larceny case.

She told him she needed to take medication for her diabetes and high blood pressure but he would not let her, according to the complaint, and insisted that she either strip or perform oral sex on him.

She stripped and Agovino groped her while touching himself before leaving when she had put her clothes back on.

Three times over the next five months he returned to her home, including one time when he sexually abused her again. At one point when she urged him not to touch her because she had had surgery, Agovino demanded to see her scar.

On Jan. 22, 2020, Agovino returned and demanded she strip. She refused and he started groping her over her clothing.

He was unaware that she had managed to start recording what was going on. He demanded she go into the bedroom, but she refused and insisted he leave.

The recording lasted six minutes. She turned it over to investigators and Agovino was arrested three weeks later.

Agovino, an Orangetown resident, was forced to resign last year as a result of the charges. He had been a police officer for 12 years.

When the case was called on Thursday, Agovino hugged his father and headed to the defense table, carrying a plastic bag of things he would be bringing to prison.

Lopez told the judge that he had "defied" the oath he took as a police officer, abusing his position of authority for his own sexual gratification at the expense of a vulnerable member of the community he was supposed to protect.

The victim thanked law enforcement authorities for believing in her and wanted to make sure Agovino knew she wasn't sentencing him but that he had sentenced himself.

She said she had trusted police and knew not all were bad like Agovino. But she still would find herself leaving a diner or a store if a cop was inside because she would start hyperventilating.

"I don't feel safe around them," she said.

She told Agovino he had taken advantage of her disability and her fear of his position and she implored him to spend his time in prison thinking about what he had done to her and why.

His lawyer, Edward Sapone, said in court that Agovino would become the poster child for rehabilitation.

"I have a lot of regrets. A lot," Agovino told the judge. "I'm sorry for so many things to so many people."

When he was done, the victim immediately turned to two supporters to point out that Agovino hadn't said he was sorry to her.

Cacace agreed to the promised sentence but said she was struck by how worried Agovino seemed about the consequences to his family rather than the plight of the victim.

"Your actions truly tarnished the reputation of all police officers," she said.

Westchester District Attorney Mimi Rocah later hailed the victim as "extremely brave" and credited the Peekskill Police Department with its handling of the case once it was confronted by a crime by one of its own.

"Michael Agovino egregiously violated the trust of the Peekskill community, he grossly abused his position of authority as a police officer and he violated his oath of office," she said.

Rocah was joined by Peekskill police Chief Leo Dylewski, who emphasized that Agovino's case was "not a representation of the men and women who work for the city of Peekskill Police Department.

"We were just as appalled and disgusted when we found out what happened," he said, adding later that Agovino "got what he deserved."

Twitter: @jonbandler

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Michael Agovino, former Peekskill cop, sentenced for sex abuse