By Michael Zeigler
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Copyright 2007 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
SPENCERPORT, N.Y. — A former officer of the Spencerport Volunteer Ambulance Service admitted today that he had sex with an underage girl in the organization’s Explorer post.
Jeffrey L. Tewksbury, 49, pleaded guilty to a felony of third-degree rape, also known as statutory rape, for having consensual sex with the girl in April, when she was 10 days shy of her 17th birthday.
Tewksbury is expected to receive a sentence of 10 years’ probation and an unspecified amount of community service when Monroe County Court Judge John J. Connell sentences him Jan. 4. He’ll also have to register as a sex offender.
The prosecution offered the plea with the consent of the girl and her parents, said Assistant District Attorney Sara Van Strydonck.
“They’re pretty adamant that this plea was the best way to resolve this case,” she said.
Co-defendant Richard Mogab, 30, pleaded guilty to the same charge and is expected to also receive probation when he’s sentenced Nov. 13.
Tewksbury’s lawyer, Joseph S. Damelio, said the plea took into consideration Tewksbury’s lack of a criminal nature, the consensual nature of the act, and the fact that the act wouldn’t have been illegal had the girl been slightly older.
“Had she been 17, there would have been no crime whatsover,” he said.
Under New York law, those under 17 are considered to be incapable of consenting to sexual acts.
Tewksbury was director of operations for the ambulance corps and Mogab was an operations supervisor. Both have resigned from their jobs.