A Greenport man, 61, charged with sexually abusing a three-year-old, was held on $200,000 cash bail and $500,000 bond at his appearance in Southold Town Justice court today.
According to Southold Town Police, Arturo Fuentes-Chang, 61, was charged with sexual abuse in the first degree, a felony. Police arrested Fuentes-Change after an investigation showed that he “subjected a three-year-old female to sexual contact on Saturday, April 4,” police said.
The felony complaint stated that Fuentes-Chang “did kiss” the three-year-old, “did place his mouth upon her right breast, causing reddish marks, did place his hand inside of her underwear and touch her vagina and did pull her hair.”
Fuentes-Chang appeared before Southold Justice William Price and was represented by Cynthia Darrell of Legal Aid.
At the arraignment, it was noted that Fuentes-Chang lived in the same Broad Street home as the little girl and her parents; multiple individuals who are not related reside in the house, Darrell said. She added that Fuentes-Chang has worked in the area for eight years but could not afford bail; she asked that a “reasonable” bail be set.
Due to the serious nature of the charges, Assistant District Attorney Daniel P. Cronin, Jr. said the district attorney was asking for $200,000 bail, as well as a “stay away” order of protection; he said the defendant had a prior misdemeanor charge.
Price granted the temporary order of protection, set bail at $200,000 cash or $500,000 bond, and said Fuentes-Chang had a detainment order and could be deported if he did not make bail.
This morning, the child’s father, Amos — SoutholdLOCAL will not release his last name due to the age of the child — said she was doing “okay” today but had been very upset and was unable to talk to police until yesterday.
He said he and the child’s mother live in the same house with the man, who used to give his daughter treats and candy.
“I thought he was a friend,” he said. “He looked like a good person. I never thought anything like this was going to happen.”
Fuentes-Chang, he said, lived on the third floor of the house, and he had left his daughter, who was playing, only for five minutes to go get laundry out of the machine downstairs.
His voice breaking, Amos said, “I’m angry.”
And the little girl’s mother, he said, is devastated. “We were up at 2 a.m, talking; she was crying,” he said. “This is terrible, what’s happened to my daughter. It will take her a long while to forget this.”
His daughter, he said, will turn four years old next month.
Editor’s note: A criminal charge is an accusation. By law, a person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
