Benjamin Carroll

Man Guilty of Horrifying, Violent Decade-Long Rapes of Stepdaughters Who Bore Him Children

Ultimately, the victims would bear eight children by their stepfather, who threatened to shove a coat hanger inside one if she didn't obey

What to Know

  • A Brooklyn man has been found guilty of seven counts of rape in the first and second degrees; it took a jury 30 minutes to convict
  • Prosecutors say the rapes of the man's stepdaughters started when they were 12 and 14 years old and went on for years
  • Ultimately, the victims would bear eight children by their stepfather

A Brooklyn man has been found guilty of raping his stepdaughters when they were just 12 and 14 years old, and it took the jury only 30 minutes to reach the decision, prosecutors said Tuesday. 

Lorenzo Arline, 43, was convicted a day earlier of six counts of first-degree rape and one count of second-degree rape. Prosecutors say the abuse began in 2005, when Arline lived in Far Rockaway. He started by forcing the victims, then 11 and 14, to sleep naked in bed with him. Then he raped the older girl, beating her and threatening to shove a coat hanger inside her, according to trial testimony. 

On one occasion, the 14-year-old left home without permission and was dragged by her feet, her face scraping against the cement pavement. She was then violently raped by her stepfather. Over the years she would become pregnant -- and had five children by him. 

He started raping the younger victim when she was 12. She was also threatened with physical harm and eventually bore him three children. It wasn't until the older victim, at the age of 24, was hit so hard in the face that her tooth broke that she told an official at one of her kids' schools about the years of abuse, saying she couldn't take it anymore. 

Arline faces up to 50 years in prison when he was sentenced next month. 

“This was a horrible case of sexual abuse at the hands of someone who should have been caring for and protecting the victims. Instead, this defendant for more than a decade used physical violence and heinous threats of death and torture to continually rape and control these children," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement. "A jury listened to the evidence and rendered a verdict of guilty to all charges. The defendant now faces spending the rest of his life locked away from civilized society.”

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