Medford pastor gets 17 years in sex abuse
Miguel Leon was convicted by a Suffolk jury of all 37 counts against him for abusing the boys from December 2008 to July 2009. (Jan. 27, 2011) Credit: Joseph D. Sullivan
The pastor of a small Santeria congregation in Medford was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years in prison for sexually abusing two teenage brothers.
Miguel Leon, 53, had convinced the mother of the two boys, who were 14 and 16 at the time, that the sexual activity was part of their religious instruction, prosecutors said.
The boys' mother spoke before Leon was sentenced in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead. Through sobs, she said she felt "violated" by Leon.
"He should never be able to walk the streets ever again," she said.
The boys and their mother are not being identified by Newsday because the brothers were victims of sex crimes. The brothers were not in court Tuesday.
Leon had been the pastor of a church that practiced Lucumi Yoruba, which prosecutors described as a Santeria religion based on Christianity and West African spiritual beliefs.
Leon had sex with the boys at his home on Sipp Avenue in Medford, which doubled as the congregation's meeting place, prosecutors said. Leon's congregation had fewer than a dozen members, prosecutors said.
"This religion, as practiced by the defendant, was a sham," said Assistant District Attorney John Cortes.
Leon was convicted in January of 20 counts of second-degree criminal sexual act, 15 counts of third-degree criminal sexual act and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child for abusing the boys from December 2008 to July 2009.
Leon's attorney, Douglas O'Connor of the Legal Aid Society, asked County Court Judge Barbara Kahn to show mercy to Leon because he had been raised by an alcoholic father.
Kahn said Leon, by refusing to plead guilty before trial, had forced the brothers to testify in court about the sexual activity Leon had forced upon them.
In a complex decision, Kahn gave Leon separate sentences for his convictions and said the sentences would run consecutively for a total of 17 years.
Under state law, the maximum aggregate sentence Leon could have received was 20 years.
Cortes said outside court he was pleased with the sentence.
"We're satisfied because that's three years short of the maximum," he said.
The boys' mother declined to speak to a reporter outside court after the sentencing.
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