No jail for Manorville man in sex abuse case

Despite pleas from the mother of one of his victims, a Manorville grandfather who admitted sexually abusing mentally disabled residents of a group home where he formerly worked was not sentenced to prison Monday.

Pervez Mahmud, 65, left court with his attorney after County Court Judge Barbara Kahn sentenced him to 10 years' probation and ordered him to undergo counseling.

Mahmud pleaded guilty in November to a second-degree criminal sex act. He avoided jail time as part of a plea bargain.

Before Mahmud was sentenced Monday, the mother of one of his victims asked Kahn to send him to jail.

"This man should not be allowed to go home to be with his family after what he did," the woman said in court. She is not being named by Newsday to protect her daughter's identity.

The woman's daughter said in court that Mahmud molested her while she was a resident at the home where he worked.

"He acted like he didn't do anything wrong," the woman, who was identified in court as "G.S.," said. "But I knew it was wrong."

A spokesman for the district attorney's office said prosecutors reached the plea bargain so that Mahmud's victims would not have to testify in court.

"To spare these victims from testifying at trial, we secured a felony conviction, which will require the defendant to regularly report to a probation officer for the next 10 years, guaranteeing his activities will be monitored by law enforcement," Robert Clifford said.

Mahmud will be classified as a sex offender, Kahn said in court. Mahmud is scheduled to appear at a hearing Jan. 14 to determine whether he will be classified a Level 3 sex offender - the state's highest risk category.

Mahmud did not speak in court Monday. He and his attorney declined to comment as they left court.

Prosecutors said Mahmud, while working as an aide at AHRC of Suffolk group homes in Bay Shore and Southold, raped one mentally disabled woman twice and sexually abused other female residents between June and November 2009.

His victims were between the ages of 45 and 71, authorities said.

Mahmud was fired soon after his arrest in November 2009, said AHRC of Suffolk Chief Operating Officer Lisa Bochner, and will not be able to work for another group home because of his sex offender status.

But she said she was disappointed with the sentence.

"He was supposed to care for them and he used that trust" to molest his victims, Bochner said. "He betrayed that [trust]."