SCHENECTADY — A city man faces sex charges after police said he assaulted a child. Hector Morales, 24, of 266 Duane Ave., was arrested early Friday on a warrant and charged with predatory sexual assault against a child, sodomy and fi rstdegree rape, all felonies, and acting in a manner that injures a child, a misdemeanor. Police said the alleged incident occurred Sept. 27 at his home.
SCHENECTADY Man admits child sexual assault Sentence to be 20 years to life in prison on felony plea BY STEVEN COOK Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Steven Cook at 395-3122 or scook@dailygazette.net.
A convicted sex offender accused in January of sexually abusing a 6-year-old child admitted to the crime Friday, officials said. Steven Ahders, 29, pleaded guilty to the high-level felony predatory sexual assault against a child. He is to get 20 years to life in state prison. The plea came after two days of hearings in Schenectady County Court. Ahders admitted to raping the child over 18 months in Schenectady. He had been accused of even tying the boy up and blindfolding him during the acts. The boy and his family were relieved Friday. “He’s ready to move forward,” prosecutor Michele Schettino said. “They’re relieved he did not have to testify and face the defendant in court.” “Hopefully he can learn to trust and get a little of his innocence back, what the defendant took from him,” Schettino said. Ahders was first arrested in January. Authorities accused him of abusing the child between September 2006 and June 2007. At the hearings this week, there were even allegations he abused two other children who had stayed overnight with the initial child. Ahders knew the child after meeting the child’s mother through personal ads two years earlier, prosecutors said. Authorities then said Ahders also admitted to taking photographs of the child. Those images were later found on Ahders‘ cellphone, a Sprint Treo PDA device. They were also the basis for a federal indictment that remains pending against Ahders, one where he faces a minimum of 25 years in prison if convicted. He has already been through the federal system. Ahders previously served federal prison time related to a 2001 conviction on a child pornography possession count. He admitted then to using his home computer to trade nude images of children and other people and advertised the service in an Internet chat room. Ahders was represented Friday by attorney Kent Gebert. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 5. Ahders had been listed on the state sex offender registry as a Level 1 offender, which is considered the lowest risk of reoffending.
Logged
