DA: Coram man, 78, gets 17 years for raping teen
Felix Mora, 78, of Coram, was sentenced Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, to 17 years in prison for raping a teenage girl over a two-year period, the Suffolk County district attorney said. Credit: SCDA
A 78-year-old Coram man was sentenced Thursday to 17 years in prison for raping a teenage girl over a two-year period — from the summer of 2014 until last September, authorities said.
Felix Mora, of Stanton Avenue, was convicted June 26 of second-degree and third-degree rape, second-degree and third-degree criminal sexual act, second-degree sexual abuse and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.
Judge Barbara Kahn handed down the sentence Thursday in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead.
The investigation began after the victim, who was not identified because she is a victim of a sex crime, told a friend about the encounters with Mora, Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said.
“Mora manipulated this young woman and used intimidation to control her during the years of abuse she endured,” Spota said in a statement after the verdict, adding that forensic analysis established a DNA link between Mora and the victim.
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
