Goshen. Former Highland Mills man pleads guilty in child sex case

Former Highland Mills resident Edwin Rodriguez pled guilty last week in Orange County Court to one count of first-degree attempted course of sexual conduct against a child.

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler said the plea stems from Rodriguez’s repeated acts of sexual conduct committed against a child who was less than 13 years old at the time of the abuse.

Rodriguez, 66, faces up to twelve years in prison, followed by ten years of post-release supervision, when he is sentenced on Jan. 20, 2021, before Orange County Court Judge Robert J. Prisco.

Rodriguez’s plea satisfied a six-count indictment, charging him with various acts of sexual conduct committed in the spring and summer of 2014, against a child who was under 13 years old at the time of the crimes. The offenses against the child that Rodriguez was charged with involved two or more acts of sexual conduct, at least one of which was a rape.

Hoovler thanked the Orange County Child Abuse Investigative Unit for its work on the case and their aid in the prosecution.

“Sex crimes committed against children are despicable,” Hoovler said in the press release detailing the plea, “and I have made the prosecution of all sex offenses, especially those committed against children, a priority in my office. As a result of this plea, the victim of this defendant’s offenses can receive some measure of closure, and the defendant will receive the punishment that he deserves.”