WARNING: DETAILS WITHIN THIS STORY ARE GRAPHIC IN NATURE, VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED.
MAYVILLE, NY (WNY News Now) — A Chautauqua County Jury has found a Silver Creek resident guilty of raping and sexually abusing children on Friday.
27-year-old Dustin Post faced nine counts of varying child sex crimes connected to accusations from five different children from 2015 to 2019. On Friday afternoon, he was convicted on six of the nine counts.
During the trial Post did not testify, however, some of his young victims took the stand.
The jury returned to the courtroom several times to review witness testimony and Post’s interview with New York State Police, during which the defendant admitted to some of the allegations.
The jury, re-watching the admission, had mixed expressions of grief, anger and disapproval.
Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt says the bravery of Post’s child victims is what ultimately led to this guilty verdict.
“We had to rely upon them to tell their stories, to tell their truths, but unfortunately reliving those events for some of them was so horrific, my heart just ached for them,” said Schmidt. “To have them go out there, on the stand in a very difficult atmosphere, beyond strange, beyond scary, and to do what they did, to me, they’re my heroes, they’re my inspiration.”
After starting deliberations on Thursday afternoon, jury members resumed at 9:30 a.m. Friday.
Post and attorneys were called back to the courtroom around 10 a.m, after the jury asked to review more witness testimony and evidence.
Thursday, they had victim testimony read back and rewatched part of Post’s interview with police. Friday, they did about the same but from a different victim and charge.
Specifically, they heard the testimony of a 10-year-old Silver Creek girl, who was five when Post allegedly sexually abused her.
Earlier in the trial she testified that trial Post, a friend of the family, was babysitting her, and her sister, at his house in Silver Creek.
While blindfolded and tied at the wrists, she confirmed to have played the “sucker game” that day, a term that has headlined this trial with several victims recalling the occurrence.
The jury also asked to re-watch part’s of Post’s interview with New York State Police, where he admitted to investigators coming up with the idea.
In Particular, Post said, “the sucker game, kind of fun for the kid, kind of fun for me.”
Post went on to describe how he tied the young girl’s hands behind her back, using a lamp cord he cut up.
Afterwards, he told investigators he apologized to the child, who was crying out because Post was rough while holding her face still. He told troopers he did not want or mean to hurt her.
The jury, re-watching the admission, had mixed expressions of grief, anger and disapproval.
Post was held without bail at Chautauqua County Jail. He will be sentenced on Monday, April 10 at 1:30 p.m. The DA is seeking the maximum sentence: life in prison.
Within his right, Post did not testify during the trial. He was previously convicted in a federal child pornography case last winter and sentenced to 50-years in prison.
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