By Naeisha Rose
Lorenzo Arline was sentenced to 150 years in prison Tuesday for the decade-long sexual assault of his two stepdaughters that resulted in the births of eight children.
A month earlier, Arline was found guilty of seven counts of first- and second-degree rape in a 30-minute deliberation by a jury in Queens Supreme Court.
“Today’s sentencing concludes an unbelievable case of sexual abuse at the hands of someone who should have been caring for and protecting these young girls,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Trial testimony said Arline started to abuse his stepdaughters in 2005 by first forcing the young girls, who were 11 and 14 at the time, to sleep naked in bed with him.
In a deposition, Police Officer Rocco Biondo of the Special Victims Squad said the elder of the two girls confessed to him that the abuse escalated after she had a verbal confrontation with her stepfather, who was 31 at the time.
The officer said Arline struck his older stepdaughter daughter in the face several times, threatened her with a violent physical act and then sexually assaulted her.
On another occasion the elder sister left her home in Arverne, Far Rockaway, to socialize with friends without permission and was ordered to meet him on his way home, at which point he brutally dragged her by her feet, scraped her face against cement pavement and violently raped her once he brought her back home, according to trial testimony.
Over the course of 10 years the victim bore five of his children, Brown said.
Trial testimony showed that Arline threatened the younger sister with physical harm when she was 12 and after years of being raped by her stepfather she bore three children.
“This defendant used threats and actual assault to continually rape and control his stepdaughters,” said Brown. “As a result of this defendant’s vile actions, he rightfully will spend the rest of his life behind bars.”
Police were notified of the years of physical and sexual abuse when the elder sister was 24 years old and reported it to an official at one of her children’s school after Arline struck her in the face again and broke a tooth.
In October 2015 the NYPD arrested Arline and charged him with two counts of rape.
“Hopefully, the victims in this case can find some solace in knowing their abuser will never hurt another child again,” said Brown.
Reach reporter Naeisha Rose by e-mail at nrose
