MOLESTER GETS SIX MONTHS (Parents of victims call sentence lax)

Greg Whelan, 49, was sentenced to serve 6 months in the Suffolk County Correctional Facility and 5 years on probation.  The victim's parents denounced the sentence as dangerously lenient.  Whelan pleaded guilty last month to two counts of first-degree sexual abuse and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child.  He faced a maximum sentence of 4 to 7 years in prison.  He apologized for the damage he did and promised it would never happen again.  Whelan grabbed the crotch of a young girl in a King Kullen supermarket in Huntington Station on July 31 and asked whether she liked it.  In the space of a half hour, he molested at least five girls in the supermarket.  According to Newsday, Assistant District Attorney Caren Manzello registered her objection to the sentence.  She said Whelan deserved to serve his time in a state prison, which would require a sentence of more than a year.  Acting Supreme Court Justice Michael Mullen in Riverhead said, for Whelan, who has never been arrested, 6 months is a hard sentence.  He told Whelan he hoped he would avoid similar behavior in the future, which would not only break the hearts of other people, but also lead to your incarceration.  

(New York)