LAPD
officer who abused neighbor's daughter gets three-year term
Miguel Schiappapietra receives
three years in state prison for committing lewd act on his firefighter
neighbor's 5-year-old daughter.
The father of two little girls
said he felt he shared a common bond with his new neighbor, Miguel Angel
Schiappapietra.
Both were public servants: The
father was a firefighter, Schiappapietra was a Los Angeles police officer, who
was also married with young children.
"He knew I would be there
for his wife and family when he was away at work protecting citizens," the
firefighter said in a halting, emotional statement from his seat in a downtown
Los Angeles courtroom. "And I expected the same from him."
But just a month after moving
into the firefighter's neighborhood in Castaic, Schiappapietra had betrayed
that trust.
On Friday, a Los Angeles County
Superior Court judge sentenced Schiappapietra to three years in state prison
for committing a lewd act on the firefighter's 5-year-old daughter and
attempting a lewd act on her 8-year-old sister. He will be required to register
as a sex offender upon his release.
The six-year LAPD veteran, who
pleaded no contest to the charges, was arrested in May after he lured the girls
from their yard into his bedroom, a court record states.
According to a probation
report, Schiappapietra asked the girls: "Do you know what boys do?"
One of the girls believed he
planned to show them "talents, like riding skateboards," the report
states. After they followed him to his bedroom, he exposed himself to them. At
one point, Schiappapietra asked the 5-year-old to touch him, which she did,
according to the court document.
The girls later told their
parents what had happened.
The victims' father, who wanted
to protect his family's privacy and did not disclose his name in court, said he
thought Schiappapietra's sentence was too lenient.
He said he dreaded the day when
his children "come to understanding," and he must explain to them the
abuse they suffered.
Nonetheless, he said he forgave
Schiappapietra for what he did to his children and hoped he would get the help
he needs.
"My family and I are going
to move on," he said, adding that he hoped Schiappapietra and his wife
"can do the same."
He turned to Schiappapietra's
wife, who dabbed her eyes in the back row of the courtroom, and told her she
should never feel unwelcome in their church, where she had been of
"tremendous" service to the community.
Schiappapietra resigned from
the LAPD last month while the criminal case was pending. He also addressed the
court. In words that were nearly inaudible, the 28-year-old apologized to the
victims' family.
"I have for some time
wanted to say sorry for all the hurt I have caused," he said.
He expressed a desire to change
his life, and "do what needs to be done."
Schiappapietra's attorney,
David Diamond, said that had the case gone to trial, things might have turned
out differently for his client.
"But Miguel took it upon
himself to start the healing process for everybody involved," he said.
Deputy Dist. Attys. Stephanie
Saragna and Rosa Alarcon declined to comment, except to say that the case was
unusual in that it involved a police officer.
Superior Court Judge Michael D.
Abzug said both families had his sympathies.
It was "a sad situation
all the way around," he said.
After sentencing,
Schiappapietra was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.