A former Saugerties police officer has been sentenced to five years in prison for sexually abusing a girl who was 15 years old when she came forward and reported the abuse. Sydney Mills, 54, was sentenced to the prison term followed by 10 years of post-release supervision, according to court records cited by News12 New York.
The case traces back to July 2025, when Mills was arrested at Saugerties Police Department headquarters after a fellow patrol officer received information about the abuse and reported it directly to Police Chief Ken Swart, according to Hudson Valley One. Swart then worked with the Ulster County District Attorney's Office and the county Family and Children Advocacy Center to build the case. Mills was an officer in 2022 and is described as part-time.
An Ulster County Grand Jury indicted Mills the same month on a sweeping set of felony charges, including two counts of third-degree rape, second-degree criminal sexual act, and third-degree sexual abuse, all tied to a victim who was 14 to 15 years old between April and November 2022, per the outlet's review of court records. Mills was remanded without bail following his arraignment and was initially held at the Ulster County Jail before being transferred to the Greene County Jail, the outlet reported.
Guilty Plea Came a Week Before Trial
Nearly a year later, Mills pleaded guilty in June to second-degree criminal sexual act. The plea was entered on June 15 in Ulster County Court before Judge Bryan Rounds, resolving the multi-count indictment just one week before his trial was scheduled to begin, according to the same account. The agreement satisfied all remaining counts in the original indictment.
Ulster County District Attorney Emmanuel Nneji personally prosecuted the case after the assistant district attorney originally assigned to it left the office. Nneji publicly addressed accountability and the importance of children, and he praised the victim's courage in coming forward to law enforcement, per Hudson Valley One's reporting on the plea.
Town Board Vowed Accountability After Arrest
Two days after Mills' arrest last year, the Saugerties Town Board issued a formal statement declaring that officer arrests “shatter public trust” and pledging strict standards of accountability going forward. The board also extended sympathy to the victim and promised ongoing oversight of local police operations, the outlet noted.
In the days following the arrest, the Saugerties Police Department publicly urged residents to report crime tips directly to law enforcement rather than through social media intermediaries, according to iHeartMedia Hudson Valley. The department directed anyone with additional information about Mills to contact the Ulster County DA's Office Special Victims Bureau directly.
The arrest also landed amid broader scrutiny of the Saugerties Police Department, coming after former officer Dion Johnson reached a plea deal earlier last year involving official misconduct and criminal trespass, per the same iHeartMedia report.
DA Pledges Complaints Won't Be Ignored
At a Saugerties Town Board meeting in September 2025, Nneji addressed community concerns about child abuse complaints more broadly, pledging that allegations would not be “shuffled under the rug,” according to The Overlook. He noted that residents had shared historical concerns about how such complaints had been handled by institutions in the past.
New York Penal Law § 130.45 is cited in connection with second-degree criminal sexual act.
