ABUSER OF YOUNG GIRLS SENTENCED TO 35 YEARS

Newsday.com/Jennifer Sinco Kelleher

In November 2004, Thomas F. Green, 62, of Hawthorne Street in Selden, was accused by a LongIsland schoolgirl who said she was raped for five years by Green, her mom's boyfriend, only to seehim acquitted in a non-jury trial. The girl ripped the judge saying she didn't get a fair trialbecause he kept dozing off during her gut-wrenching testimony. A child advocacy group said it fileda complaint against Suffolk County Court Judge Gary Weber, 62, with the state Commission onJudicial Conduct, claiming that he slept while the 15 year old girl testified about how she wassexually abused from when she was 5 to 10 years old. Parents for Megan's Law executive directorLaura Ahearn said the acquittal wouldn't have happened if Weber had remained awake during thegirl's testimony. Green was acquitted on charges that he raped the girl from 1993-1998. The girlhad informed her crack-addict mom about the abuse, but the mother died of a drug overdose beforeshe could go to the cops. Later as a teen, she finally told her real dad about what had happenedand he went to authorities. But in a non-jury trial in November 2004, Weber acquitted Green of allcharges. The girl said Weber had repeatedly put his head in his hands and snoozed as she relivedthe horrific memories of rape in testimony for two hours. In a prepared statement, Weber denied thegirl's claims.

The Suffolk grandfather now faces new charges of abusing two other children. Green is chargedwith first degree sodomy, first degree sexual abuse of a child younger than 11 and other charges.He was arrested January 10, 2007, and indicted on April 16. He is free on $50,000 cash bail and wasarraigned on May 7 before Acting State Supreme Court Justice Michael Mullen. Ahearn declined tocomment on the new allegations, except to say, The issue that is of paramount importance at thistime is to ensure that justice is served.

The attorney for Green said the allegations are nothing more than retaliation by authoritiesfrustrated because his client was acquitted once before on similar charges. Green pleaded notguilty on May 7 and was released after posting $50,000 bond. The Suffolk DA said Green abused fiveneighborhood girls, including a 6 year old relative, at his home between 1998 and 2003. Thechildren would come to his house to play in his pool and for sleepovers. They called him grandpa.

Thomas Green was sentenced on July 16, 2009, in a Riverhead courtroom to 35 years inprison.  He was convicted last August of sexually abusing three girls in hisneighborhood.  A jury found him guilty of seven out of 10 counts of an indictment thatdetailed the sex crimes between 1998 and 2003.

(New York)