Second Indictment In Child Sex Abuse
By Robert Leuner
Originally published in Suffolk Life, November 7, 2001
A Nassau County man has been indicted by a Suffolk County Grand Jury in the sexual abuse of a four-year-old Dix Hills girl, Suffolk County District Attorney James M. Catterson announced last week. He is the second such individual arrested in the incident uncovered by Suffolk County Police last month.
Bruce Wernick, 44, of Valley Stream was charged on 18 different counts in conjunction with abusing the child, including first degree sodomy, first degree sexual abuse, endangering the welfare of a child and promoting a sexual performance of a child. Last month, the girl's 35-year-old father was indicted on 51 counts of abuse and was ordered held on $1 million bail.
Catterson alleges that Wernick orally sodomized the child after encountering her father in an Internet chat room, where swapping children for sex was discussed. The duo is alleged to have engaged in child pornography by soliciting sexual images of the child as a two-year-old. Wernick is also alleged to have taught the father how to delete computer files so they could not be used as evidence against them.
Wernick was arraigned in the Suffolk County Criminal court in Riverhead on October 31. He was ordered held on $500,000 bail. If convicted of the charges, Wernick potentially faces a minimum of 25 years imprisonment in a state penitentiary.
Catterson alleges the father of the victim began abusing the child when she was only three months old. The father potentially faces in excess of 100 years in a state prison if convicted. The name of the father is being withheld to protect the identity of the victim. Catterson's office also confirmed the child's mother was under investigation and as yet the district attorney has no information as to her complicity or not.
