Suffern Man, 44, Charged With Raping Girl, 8, a Decade Ago in Rockland

A 44-year-old Suffern man is facing a raft of felony charges, including predatory sexual assault against a child, after an 18-year-old woman told police she was repeatedly sexually assaulted starting when she was just eight years old. Freddy Chicaiza-Quinde was arrested by Spring Valley Police on August 19 and arraigned in Spring Valley Justice Court before Judge Mellion, with bail set at $100,000 cash, $150,000 bond, or a $150,000 partially secured bond. He has since posted bail and been released from custody.

According to Rockland News, the Spring Valley Police Department received the woman's report on August 12 and opened an investigation into allegations of repeated childhood sexual assault. Detectives identified Chicaiza-Quinde as the alleged assailant, and the department publicly announced the arrest on August 24. The alleged assaults occurred approximately 10 years before the August 12 report, meaning the woman would have been roughly eight years old when the abuse is said to have begun.

Chicaiza-Quinde was charged with four counts of first-degree rape, first-degree criminal sexual act, first-degree course of sexual conduct against a child, five counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and predatory sexual assault against a child — the most serious charge on the list. He was initially remanded to Rockland County Jail before posting the bail set by the court.

What the Predatory Sexual Assault Charge Carries

Predatory sexual assault against a child is classified under New York Penal Law § 130.96 as a Class A-II felony, one of the most serious categories in the state's criminal code. Per Tsigler Law, a conviction carries a mandatory state prison sentence with a minimum range of 10 to 25 years and a maximum of up to life imprisonment for an adult found to have committed a qualifying sex crime against a victim under age 13.

The first-degree course of sexual conduct against a child charge, meanwhile, is a Class B felony under New York Penal Law § 130.75, applicable when an adult is alleged to have engaged in two or more acts of sexual conduct with a victim under 13 over a period of at least three months. As Friedman & Ranzenhofer's legal guidance notes, that charge allows prosecutors to address continuous abuse over time without pinning down individual dates for every act — a mechanism that can matter in cases like this one, where the alleged conduct is said to have unfolded roughly a decade ago.

Because the top charge is a Class A-II felony, there is no statute of limitations restricting when it can be prosecuted. RAINN's policy database explains that New York's statutory reforms eliminated time limits on prosecuting the most severe felony sex crimes against minors, which is the legal basis allowing charges to be filed a decade after the alleged incidents. Class A-II felonies and predatory sexual offenses are also classified under New York Criminal Procedure Law § 510.10(4) as statutory qualifying offenses, giving judges the authority to set cash bail or bond rather than mandatory release on recognizance, according to the Unified Court System.

Federal Task Force Assisted With the Arrest

The FBI New York Westchester Safe Streets Task Force assisted Spring Valley Police in Chicaiza-Quinde's arrest, per the same account from Rockland News. The task force is a regional federal-local partnership that operates across the Hudson Valley, providing investigative resources and manpower to municipal departments handling high-priority felony cases, fugitive apprehension, and violent crime investigations, as Daily Voice has reported.

Suffern, where Chicaiza-Quinde resides, and Spring Valley, where the investigation originated, are both incorporated villages within the Town of Ramapo, located roughly six miles apart along Route 59, according to Rome2Rio's geographic data. Both villages fall under the jurisdiction of Rockland County Court in New City, where the case will ultimately be prosecuted.

Case Moves Toward a Rockland County Grand Jury

Authorities have not indicated whether there may be additional alleged victims, nor have they publicly disclosed the exact locations of the alleged assaults or the relationship between Chicaiza-Quinde and the woman. Police also did not publicly identify the woman. The case remains part of the ongoing criminal court process in Rockland County, and prosecutors must prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt in court. Chicaiza-Quinde has not been convicted of the alleged offenses and is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty; criminal charges do not by themselves establish that he committed an offense.

Given the severity of the top charge, the case is expected to go before a Rockland County grand jury and be prosecuted by the District Attorney's Special Victims Unit, which directs felony sex crime and child abuse prosecutions countywide. The unit works out of the Spirit of Rockland Special Victims Center in Suffern, which coordinates law enforcement, prosecution, and victim care under one roof, according to the Rockland County District Attorney's Office. The Center for Safety & Change, the county's sole certified rape crisis center, provides confidential crisis intervention and legal accompaniment for survivors navigating disclosures like this one, per LawHelpNY.

The Special Victims Unit has secured convictions in similar cases before. Two weeks ago, the DA's office announced a guilty plea in Rockland County Court for first-degree course of sexual conduct against a child involving a Chestnut Ridge man, who received a 12-year state prison sentence and lifetime sex offender registration. That case reflects the office's ongoing handling of historic child abuse disclosures brought forward by local police departments.

Police Seek Additional Information

Spring Valley Police have asked anyone with relevant information about the case to contact the department at 845-356-7400 or by email at [email protected]. The case adds to a string of recent child sexual abuse prosecutions across Rockland County, including a Garnerville child abuse images case reported earlier this month and an April sentencing in a Haverstraw enticement case.