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MAYVILLE, NY (WNY News Now) — A convicted child rapist will spend the rest of his life in prison following a Monday sentencing that Chautauqua County prosecutors hope send a message to other child predators in the community.
Judge David Foley sentenced Dustin Post to 125 years to life in state prison after he was convicted on several counts of child sex abuse and rape crimes involving five children all under the age of 12 years-old.
Local law enforcement hope the sentencing will help victims find peace to heal and send a message to other predators countywide.
“This started as a walk-in complaint after a child had disclosed to her mother what occurred and then investigator Landwher was assigned that investigation and he started to follow up and also contacted his counterpart at H.S.I, homeland security investigations, and the two of them began an investigation,” explained District Attorney Jason Schmidt.
A few of Post’s victims testified against him in a feat of strength and courage.
“I think as a general matter, this has just been such a difficult experience for them. I’m just speaking very generally, you’re talking about victims of child sexual trauma and to relive these events is retraumatizing them and we did everything we could to try to avoid this occurring and we made a decision that the best course forward to protect the community, to vindicate these children for what was done to them, was to go forward,” said Schmidt.
“These kids are superheros in everything that they’ve done, every step that they’ve taken has just been remarkable,” Family Advocate for CAP Kelly Ziegler said.
The investigation team felt the best way to help these young, innocent victims, was to make sure their attacker couldn’t hurt anyone again.
“So what we were looking for was sentence to run consecutive with that to ensure that Mr. Post would never see the light of day, that he would just always be incarcerated because there’s just no protecting the community if he stood the risk of being paroled way in the future after I’ve been dead for many many years. I wouldn’t sleep well knowing that’s the case,” Schmidt said.
“It’s been very exciting to see our kids stand up and be able to use their voice and all the strength that they’ve been able to provide during this process. Our M.D.T is really important and I think that this case really showcases our multidisciplinary team and the work that we’re doing in the community and each aspect, each discipline, each agency, to provide healing, hope and justice for our children and our families,” Ziegler explained.
On Child Abuse Pervention Month, the Chautauqua County Child Advocacy Program urges anyone suspecting child abuse or mistreatment to call the Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-342-3720.
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