Wyandanch library custodian Kwaisi McCorvey pleads guilty to rape, child endangerment
Wyandanch Public Library head custodian Kwaisi McCorvey, seen here in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead on Aug. 3, has pleaded guilty to third-degree rape and child endangerment. Credit: James Carbone
A Wyandanch Public Library custodian who is facing a $30 million legal claim for allegedly raping a minor at work pleaded guilty Wednesday to third-degree rape and child endangerment in a case involving the same young woman.
Under Kwaisi McCorvey's plea deal, his felony rape conviction will be dropped and only his misdemeanor endangerment conviction will remain if he completes a year of probation, according to court officials and Suffolk prosecutors.
By his plea, McCorvey, 51, of Farmingdale, admitted raping a 16-year-old in North Amityville in 2016.
The victim in the case is the same young woman who filed a notice of claim in July seeking $30 million in damages while naming McCorvey and library trustees as defendants.
The litigation alleges McCorvey sexually abused her during encounters at the library between 2016 and 2018, Newsday reported last month.
Newsday doesn't publish the names of sexual assault victims.
A confidential memo revealed the young woman reported to the library's director in September 2021 that she had sexual encounters with McCorvey in the library when she was 16, but McCorvey remained on the job until his arrest, Newsday also reported last month.
McCorvey's attorney, Gregory Kalmar of Melville, declined to comment Thursday.
If McCorvey successfully completes probation, he also won't have to register as a sex offender, Suffolk County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Tania Lopez said Thursday.
She said if McCorvey violates his probation, he'll face a sentence of 1½ to 3 years in prison for the rape conviction and will have to register as a sex offender.
McCorvey, who has worked as a custodian at the library since 2007, remains on the library’s payroll, collecting an annual base salary of $65,494.
The library board voted to suspend McCorvey with pay a week after his February arrest.
The victim in the criminal case filed reports with Suffolk police in 2021 about abuse she said occurred in the library and elsewhere, her attorney, Monte Malik Chandler, previously told Newsday.
Chandler said Thursday that McCorvey was in a relationship with his client's mother when the North Amityville rape occurred, before her mother later died and the abuse allegedly continued.
The attorney said he was “sorely disappointed” McCorvey didn't get prison time but called the situation a “conundrum” because McCorvey is the father of the victim’s two young half brothers.
“She is happy that a conviction was borne out of all of this and affords her the opportunity to move forward … But the pain is still there … this man robbed her of her innocence,” Chandler said.
Library attorney Shawn Cullinane declined to comment Thursday.
Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.
