Patricio Penaloza will not serve any prison time thanks to a plea deal he agreed to last December even though he admitted to groping three underage girls.
Penaloza pleaded guilty to charges of attempted forcible touching after he was captured by surveillance cameras touching young women waiting for the train at the 66th Street-Lincoln Center subway station.
The plea deal requires that Penaloza attends a nine-month sexual predator program and states he must be entered in the sex-offender registry.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office initially charged Penaloza with endangering the welfare of a child, sexual abuse, and forcible touching which could have sent him to jail for a year if he had not agreed to the plea deal.
Activist Nancy Sliwa who was quoted in the New York Post said of the plea deal, “They aren’t giving him any jail time. It’s ridiculous because now you’re talking about someone who is grabbing children.”
Penaloza will appear in court later this month to determine what sex-offender level he will have to register under.
Photo Credit: Getty Images