Matthew Scannapieco pleaded guilty in May 2015 to the repeated sexual abuse of a child, first-degree rape and unlawful sexual contact in the first degree.
DOVER, DEL. - A disgraced former Marlboro Township mayor serving a 25-year sentence in a Delaware state prison for raping a young girl has reportedly had his appeal rejected by the Delaware Supreme Court.
Matthew Scannapieco, 72, who served as Marlboro's mayor from 1992 to 2003, pleaded guilty in May 2015 to the repeated sexual abuse of a child, first-degree rape and unlawful sexual contact in the first degree.
Matthew Scannapieco pleaded guilty in May 2015 to the repeated sexual abuse of a child, first-degree rape and unlawful sexual contact in the first degree. The attacks started in 2006 when the girl was 6 years old, shortly after Scannapieco moved to Delaware and following his guilty plea to charges of tax evasion and accepting $245,000 in bribes in New Jersey.
The assaults continued until 2008 when he was sentenced to 21 months in prison on those federal corruption charges.
After the mother of the victim reported the incident to police, Scannapieco admitted to detectives that he had sexual contact with the female relative between 50 and 60 times when she was a child.
Following his sentencing, however, Scannapieco argued in an appeal that Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis erred in allowing the victim's stepfather to make an impact statement at his sentencing, the Associated Press reported.
Davis imposed the maximum allowable sentence of 25 years on Scannapieco, citing the former mayor's lack of remorse, his need for treatment and the age and vulnerability of the victim as some of the reasons for the heavy sentence.
However, the Delaware Supreme Court rejected Scannapieco's late last week, the Associated Press reported.
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