This section charges a pattern rather than an incident. It allows the People to allege repeated conduct over a defined period without pinning each act to a date, and that structural feature drives everything about how the case is defended. New York charges this offense under New York Penal Law section 130.75.

What the Prosecution Must Prove

The People must prove two or more acts of sexual conduct with a child, occurring over a period the statute defines, with the child s age within the range the charged subdivision specifies. What they need not prove is the date of any individual act.

That relief from date specificity is the point of the section and the heart of the defense problem: an alibi is nearly impossible to construct against an allegation that spans months. The defense response is not to prove where the accused was on a given day but to establish the structure of the period — living arrangements, custody schedules, school terms, employment, travel, who else was present — so that the alleged pattern can be measured against a documented reality.

Penalties and Sentencing Exposure

The first-degree provision sits at the top of the Penal Law s felony grading. New York assigns each offense a grade, and the grade sets the range the sentencing court works within. Because those figures are amended and because the grade can turn on which subdivision is charged, the exposure in a particular case should be confirmed against the current text of the section named in the accusatory instrument rather than taken from any general description, including this one.

Sex Offender Registration Consequences

A conviction under section 130.75 is a registrable offense. Registration under the Sex Offender Registration Act is determined in a proceeding separate from the criminal case, and the risk level assigned there governs the duration and the reporting obligations. Because registration follows the offense of conviction, the charge a case resolves to is often more consequential than whether the case resolves at all.

Collateral Consequences: Employment, Professional License, Security Clearance, Immigration

A conviction in this category is permanently disqualifying for any employment or licensure involving contact with children, and the practical effect begins with the arrest. A licensed professional faces a separate proceeding before the licensing authority, which applies its own standard and is not bound by the criminal outcome. A non-citizen faces immigration consequences that turn on how the offense is characterized under federal law rather than on the label New York gives it, and that analysis belongs in the plea discussion from the start. A person holding or seeking a security clearance faces adjudicative guidelines that treat an allegation as reportable regardless of disposition.

How These Cases Are Investigated

These cases are built on a forensic interview at a child advocacy center conducted under a recognized protocol, together with disclosure history — who the child told, when, and in what words. Medical examination frequently produces no findings, and the absence of findings is normal rather than exculpatory. Where the allegation emerged during a custody dispute, a family court file exists and is a material part of the history.

Defenses That Apply to This Charge

• Establishing the documented structure of the alleged period, since the statute relieves the People of date specificity.
• Examining the forensic interview against the protocol it purports to follow, including question form and the handling of prior disclosures.
• Reconstructing the disclosure history from its first telling forward.
• Obtaining the family court and custody file where the allegation emerged in that context.
• Contesting whether the alleged conduct meets the statutory definition of the conduct element for the required number of occasions.

What Happens at the First Court Appearance

Arraignment is on a felony complaint, with the matter proceeding to grand jury presentation. Arraignment also addresses release conditions and any order of protection. An order of protection can take effect immediately and can exclude a person from a residence, a workplace or a school before any evidence has been tested. Counsel present at that appearance can be heard on its scope; counsel retained afterward is arguing to modify an order already in force.

Why Private Retained Counsel Matters Here

School, medical, employment and custody records establish the period, and they are obtainable only by someone who identifies which ones matter and asks in time. Retained counsel can begin work before an arrest, engage with the assigned prosecutor while charging decisions are still open, and preserve evidence that degrades quickly. None of that is available once the charging decision has been made and the case is on a calendar.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do the People not have to prove specific dates?

The section charges a course of conduct over a statutorily defined period rather than a single act. That is a deliberate feature of the statute, and it is why the defense concentrates on documenting the structure of the period rather than on alibi.

Does a normal medical examination help the defense?

The absence of findings is common in these cases and is not treated as exculpatory by itself. It is one fact among many rather than an answer to the allegation.

Does a pending custody case matter?

It is material history. Where an allegation emerges during a custody dispute, the family court file records the timing and the context of the first disclosure, and it is obtainable.

About Mr. Sris

Mr. Sris is the founding attorney of Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C., a firm practicing since 1997. He is a former prosecutor and is admitted in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey and New York. Of Counsel attorneys contract directly with the firm and handle matters alongside him.

Speak With Mr. Sris

An allegation under Article 130 does not wait for you to decide what to do about it. Request a consultation. Reach our location at (888) 437-7747. Consultations are by appointment.

Last reviewed: August 24, 2026.

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