A 37-year-old New Windsor man pleaded guilty this week to repeatedly sexually abusing a child younger than 13 over a period of several months, and now faces nearly two decades behind bars when he is sentenced this fall. Howard Fitts entered his plea in Orange County Court on August 18, admitting to first-degree course of sexual conduct against a child.
According to Daily Voice, Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler announced the guilty plea, saying Fitts admitted to engaging in two or more acts of sexual conduct with the child between December 2024 and May 2025. Prosecutors said Fitts sexually abused the child over the course of several months. Under the terms of the plea, Fitts is expected to be sentenced on November 17 to 18 years in state prison, followed by 20 years of post-release supervision.
Fitts will also be required to register as a sex offender under New York's Sex Offender Registration Act once he completes his prison term. The Orange County DA's Office provided a photo of Fitts alongside the announcement of his plea.
What the Guilty Plea Means Under New York Law
First-degree course of sexual conduct against a child is classified under New York Penal Law § 130.75 as a Class B violent felony, carrying a sentencing range of 5 to 25 years in state prison for a first-time offender, according to New York State's Open Legislation database. Fitts's expected 18-year sentence falls near the upper end of that range. To sustain the charge, prosecutors must prove an adult engaged in two or more acts of sexual conduct over at least a three-month period with a victim under 13, including at least one act of vaginal, oral, anal, or aggravated sexual contact — a structure that allows prosecutors to secure convictions without requiring child victims to pinpoint precise calendar dates for every incident.
The statute also carries an explicit double jeopardy protection, barring prosecutors from later charging a defendant with any other sexual offense involving the same victim during the same timeframe. That means Fitts's plea consolidates the alleged conduct from December 2024 through May 2025 into a single felony conviction. Separately, first-degree course of sexual conduct against a child is among the top-tier felonies that carry no criminal statute of limitations under New York Criminal Procedure Law § 30.10, meaning such charges can be brought at any time regardless of when the abuse is disclosed.
Post-Release Supervision and Sex Offender Registration
The 20 years of post-release supervision Fitts is expected to receive stems from New York Penal Law § 70.45, which mandates a period of supervised release following prison for violent felony sex offenses, with the length varying by felony classification. That supervision comes with strict parole conditions, monitoring, and travel restrictions once Fitts completes his prison sentence.
Fitts's specific risk level under the Sex Offender Registration Act has not yet been determined. Per the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, a court judge assigns an offender's Level 1, 2, or 3 designation at a risk assessment hearing that typically occurs closer to release from custody. Level 1 offenders are kept in a non-public directory for 20 years, while Level 2 and Level 3 offenders must register for life and appear in the state's public online registry, with Level 3 offenders additionally required to verify their address in person with law enforcement every 90 days.
Orange County's Special Victims Unit
Hoovler was first elected Orange County District Attorney in 2013 and now oversees an office of 52 Assistant District Attorneys and 22 criminal investigators, having previously worked as a police detective and federal prosecutor. His office runs a Special Victims Unit staffed by prosecutors trained specifically in felony child sexual abuse, domestic violence, and elder abuse cases, according to the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York. That unit coordinates with local law enforcement and child advocacy centers to gather forensic and victim evidence in cases like this one.
Fitts lived in the Town of New Windsor, located in eastern Orange County along the Hudson River directly adjacent to the City of Newburgh. The town recorded a population of 27,805 in the 2020 U.S. Census, per Wikipedia, and sits within the broader Mid-Hudson Valley region. Details about Fitts's exact relationship to the child and which local police department initially investigated the case have not been made public.
