Jul 9, 2008 4:01 pm US/Eastern
Ex-Prosecutor Gets 2 Years For Sex With Teens
Beth Modica's Children Renounce Her At Sentencing
NEW CITY, N.Y. (CBS) ―
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Former Rockland County prosecutor Beth Modica pleaded guilty to statutory rape and criminal sex acts.
CBS
A former Rockland County prosecutor was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison and 10 years probation for having sex with teenage boys. Yet perhaps the worst of all for Beth Modica is the public shame heaped on her by her own daughter.
Modica arrived in court knowing she'd be facing a judge and prison bars for a significant period of time, but the 44-year-old mother of four probably didn't know she'd face a painful public repudiation by her 16-year-old daughter Danielle.
"She certainly understands that the daughter was angry right from the beginning, but to come out and recommend that your mom go to state prison, that's a pretty devastating happening," said Gerard Damiani Modica's attorney.
Last summer at her home in Sloatsburg, Modica gave her children and their friends beer and marijuana and engaged in sex with two young men, including her daughter's boyfriend.
Modica cried as her daughter described pounding on a bathroom door while her mother seduced and performed oral sex on the boyfriend on the other side.
"We were competing for the same 15-year-old boy. What kind of person does this to her child? She should be punished for the awful things she has done," Danielle said during the courtroom proceeding. "I was betrayed by both of them."
At one point the judge said, "Your daughter's boyfriend? That's disgusting."
Prosecutor Dominick Crispino also read a letter from Modica's son Joseph, who told his mother, "I am truly ashamed and disgusted with you."
Modica's 12-year-old son, Nicholas, also wrote to request prison time for his mother, saying, "I need to know when she gets out of jail it will be safe for me to be around her."
Listening to it all was Leslie Brown, whose 16-year-old son Modica had pleaded guilty to raping.
"I'm devastated for their family as well as my own. We're all victims," she said, calling Modica a "sly and manipulative sexual predator."
Modica tearfully apologized, saying she "I am truly sorry and will be eternally remorseful."
Her lawyer said unexplained emotional problems caused her to commit the crimes. She will serve time in a prison that specializes in treating sex offenders.
Modica's estranged husband is the Spring Valley police chief. The judge, who called Modica a "disgusting monster," said their home should have been the ultimate safe place for teens, but instead it became a place of betrayal.
Besides two years in state prison for Modica's guilty plea to statutory rape and criminal sex act, the judge imposed 10 years probation, sex offender registration and 10-year orders of protection for the two boys she had sex with.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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