Teen gets 12-month sentence for minor offense - and thug gets probation for raping her

**lewisipso** · 11-09-10, 09:37 PM

15-year-old Ashley had no inkling of what was to come on the day in 2005 when she was in Manhattan Family Court on a minor charge.

"You want to believe everybody's good, everybody wants to help you," she told me last week.

A hulking juvenile counselor named Tony Simmons led her in handcuffs from the girls holding area to the elevator.

She expected Tyson, as Simmons was called, to bring her up to the courtroom where she was scheduled to be sentenced for filing a false police report.

Instead, the elevator descended to the basement. The 42-year-old counselor pulled down her pants and raped her with calm, practiced precision that made him all the more terrifying.

"He knew exactly what he was doing," Ashley said. "Everything."

When he was done, Simmons pulled her pants back up and the elevator ascended to the courtroom. He raised an extended index finger to his lips in a mute command for her to say nothing.

"I was very scared," Ashley said. "I was terrified. He was a very large man."

Just moments after being violated, Ashley was seated next to her mother and before the judge. She was too shocked and terrified to report the attack.

"I knew I was just raped. I knew it wasn't supposed to happen," she recalled. "I didn't think anybody would believe me."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/...#ixzz14qMyJ6k2

**lewisipso** · 11-09-10, 09:46 PM

Manhattan DA Vance rips judge's 'outrageously lenient' punishment for confessed rapist

A Manhattan Supreme Court justice came under fire Monday for granting probation to a city worker who admitted he had raped or sexually abused three teen girls under his care.

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. blasted the sentence Justice Cassandra Mullen gave to Tony Simmons, 47, as "outrageously lenient." Prosecutors wanted Simmons to get at least a year behind bars. "This was an egregious breach of the public's trust," Vance said.

Read more: Manhattan DA Vance rips judge's 'outrageously lenient' punishment for confessed rapist