Victim Reported Abuse After Attending Elementary School Presentation on Inappropriate Touching and Sexual Contact 

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Daniel Fuino, age 73, of Slingerlands, New York, was arrested yesterday and charged with one count of aggravated sexual abuse of a child less than 12 years old.

United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman; Janeen DiGuiseppi, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); and Steven A. Nigrelli, Acting Superintendent of the New York State Police, made the announcement.

Fuino appeared today in Albany before United States Magistrate Judge Daniel J. Stewart and was ordered detained after reserving his right to seek a detention hearing at a later date.  

According to a criminal complaint and statements made by prosecutors in court today, Fuino repeatedly molested a child.  Fuino babysat the child at his home and brought her with him to Atlantic City, New Jersey, on weekends while the child’s mother worked.  The complaint alleges that during those stays, Fuino photographed the child’s genitals, digitally penetrated her, and forced the girl to perform oral sex on him.  The conduct is alleged to have occurred over the past 11 months, beginning when the child was 6 years old.  Law enforcement has recovered, from Fuino’s electronic devices, images of the victim on depicting some of the abuse.  The victim reported the abuse to her school last week after an elementary school presentation on inappropriate touching and sexual contact. The charge in the complaint is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The charge filed against Fuino carries a sentence of at least 30 years and up to life in prison.  A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors.

This case is being investigated by the FBI Albany’s Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, including the Colonie Police Department, Rotterdam Police Department, Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office, and the New York State Police.  Assistant United States Attorney Benjamin S. Clark is prosecuting this case as part of Project Safe Childhood.

Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorney’s offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), and is designed to marshal federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

Original source can be found here.