On March 7, 2025, Frank Mastroianni (DOB: 11/3/1968) was convicted by a Schenectady County Jury of one count of Predatory Sexual Assault of a Child, a Class A-II Felony Sex Offense, two counts of Criminal Sexual Act in the Second Degree, a Class D Violent Felony Sex Offenses, one count of Attempted Criminal Sexual Act in the Second Degree, a Class E Felony Sex Offense, and one count of Sexual Abuse in the Third Degree, a Class B Misdemeanor. Schenectady County Court Judge Matthew J. Sypniewski presided. The trial began with jury selection on Monday, March 3, 2025. The jury reached its verdict on Friday, March 7, 2025, after approximately four hours of deliberations.
The Defendant repeatedly sexually abused a child known to him over the course of eight years, starting around 2011, when the child was seven years old, and ending in 2019, just before the child’s fifteenth birthday. The child originally disclosed the abuse in 2015 to a family member, who reported it to law enforcement. The child further disclosed the abuse during a forensic interview conducted at the Schenectady County Child Advocacy Center. However, after the child’s disclosures, a family member put tremendous pressure on the child to recant, and the child eventually did so.
Criminal charges were not pursued against Mastroianni in 2015. However, the Schenectady County Attorney’s Office, on behalf of Schenectady County Child Protective Services, brought Abuse charges in Schenectady County Family Court. The standard of proof in Family Court abuse proceedings is significantly lower than that in a criminal trial. Additionally, in Family Court children's disclosures can generally be admitted without requiring the child to testify, unlike in criminal court. The abuse charges resulted in an order of protection being issued requiring the Defendant to stay away from the victim for several years. But, as soon as the Order of Protection expired, the Defendant moved back in with the victim and her family immediately. From there the sexual assaults resumed. The abuse ended shortly before the child’s fifteenth birthday in the Summer of 2019 when the victim kicked the Defendant in the face while he attempted to abuse her yet again.
In March of 2023, after the victim turned 18, she again bravely reported the original abuse and the new abuse she had suffered at the Defendant’s hands. The victim and the victim’s mother testified at the trial. The jury also heard from Dr. Eileen Treacy, an expert in the field of child psychology, who testified about Child Abuse Accommodation Syndrome. Her testimony was offered to assist the jury in understanding how the victim responded to the abuse.
The Count of Predatory Sexual Assault of a Child concerned Mastroianni’s course of sexual abuse of a child previously known to him between 2011 and 2015, when the child was between the ages of seven and ten years old while Mastroianni was between the ages of 42 and 46. The remaining counts were for specific sexual assaults of the same child occurring in 2018 and 2019 while the child was between the ages of thirteen and fourteen years old and Mastroianni was 49 to 50 years old.
The Defendant faces a maximum aggregate sentence of an indeterminate period of incarceration of 43 years to life for these convictions. Because of the child’s exceptionally young age at the time of Mastroianni’s sexual abuse, the Charge of Predatory Sexual Assault of a Child carries the sentencing range of an A-II Felony (which is the same as intentional murder). On that count alone, the Defendant faces an indeterminate sentence of up to 25 years to life in prison. The Defendant faces additional sentences of up to 7 years’ incarceration for each Criminal Sexual Act in the Second-Degree conviction and up to 4 years’ incarceration for the conviction for Attempted Criminal Sexual Act in the Second Degree. Each of these sentences may run consecutively to one another. The maximum sentence for Sexual Abuse in the Third Degree is 90 days of incarceration, however, it must merge with the other sentences by operation of law. The Defendant will also be required to register and verify as a Sex Offender pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration Act after he completes his sentence.
District Attorney Robert M. Carney stated, “These cases are very difficult to bring because they rely almost entirely on the memories of a child who is now a young adult. But when ADA Mike Nobles met with this young woman, she convinced him that the horrible story she related to him happened to her for years beginning as a young girl. She was brave enough to tell her story to a jury in open court in front of her abuser and the jury came to the same conclusion. Mr. Mastroianni elected not to testify before that jury, as is his right, and soon will finally face the consequences of his abhorrent behavior.”
The case was investigated by the Glenville Police Department with assistance from Schenectady County Child Protective Services, the Schenectady County Child Advocacy Center, and Investigators with the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office. After the verdict, Judge Sypniewski remanded Mastroianni pending sentencing proceedings. Sentencing is scheduled to occur on May 1, 2025, at 9:15 a.m. in Schenectady County Court.
The People are represented by Assistant District Attorney Michael Nobles. Mastroianni is represented by attorney John DellaRatta of the Schenectady Public Defender’s Office