On Friday, May 3, 2024, Joshua Hodgson [DOB 3/23/1981], a resident of Mayfield in Fulton County, New York, was sentenced by Acting County Court Judge Mark Caruso to an aggregate prison term of one hundred [100] years to life in state prison, in Schenectady County Court. This sentence was imposed following convictions by a Schenectady County jury of Mr. Hodgson rendered on January 26, 2024. The jury convicted him of twenty felonies and three misdemeanors, all arising from a 2021 summer long criminal sexual relationship the now 43-year-old maintained with a 13-year-old girl. He was convicted of counts including sexual intercourse, oral sex, fondling, sending sexually graphic Snapchat messages, and inducing the child to make and send to him sexually explicit videos. The jury also found that Mr. Hodgson possessed those sexually explicit images and videos on his phone.
Mr. Hodgson was a long-time friend of the child’s father. The child’s father allowed Mr. Hodgson to move into a spare bedroom in an act of kindness to help Mr. Hodgson with a place to live and got him a job. After moving in, Mr. Hodgson groomed the thirteen [13] year old victim and then committed the physical sexual assaults of the child while living there. When Mr. Hodgson moved out of the house in August 2021, he committed the counts related to the production and possession of sexually explicit messages and images of his victim. The inappropriate online sexual relationship continued until September 15, 2021, when the child confirmed to her family and law enforcement that Mr. Hodgson was having a sexual relationship with her. The relationship came to light after Mr. Hodgson sent several threatening messages to the child and her father demanding the return of a sterling silver chain cross necklace that he had gifted the child.
Once the allegations came to light, the child was interviewed at the Schenectady County Child Advocacy Center [CAC] by a trained child forensic interviewer. After her disclosures at the CAC the case was investigated by multiple detectives from the City of Schenectady Police Department’s Youth Aid Bureau [Specialized Detectives who investigate crimes involving children for the City of Schenectady]. In an interview with Schenectady Police Det. Timothy Rizzo, Mr. Hodgson admitted to having a relationship with the thirteen-year-old girl but denied that it was sexual. Subsequent analysis of his cell phone by NYSP Senior Investigator Peter Hickey revealed dozens of sexual images and videos of the child and hundreds of pages of inappropriate chat messages between Mr. Hodgson and the child victim.
The sentence by Judge Caruso was delivered after he noted the defendant to be a “persistent menace to society,” labeling the defendant’s crimes against the child victim in this case to be “horrific” and repeated “over and over and over again.” When Mr. Hodgson was given an opportunity to speak, he proclaimed himself to be the “victim” in this case and that he had no “remorse.” He also refused to cooperate with the probation department with the pre-sentence investigation ordered by the Court. The victim’s grandmother provided a statement at sentencing describing the defendant as a “predator” and a “monster,” and outlining that her granddaughter, the victim, remains in counseling because of Mr. Hodgson’s crimes.
District Attorney Robert M. Carney stated, “Judge Caruso clearly felt that Mr. Hodgson needs to be removed from society for the rest of his life and given his career of crime, character and stated lack of remorse for his actions, it is hard to argue with his conclusion.” The sentence of one hundred [100] years to life in prison was possible because Judge Caruso had, prior to today’s sentencing, found the defendant to be a “persistent felon” based upon his four [4] prior felony convictions each carrying a separate previous state prison sentence. Those prior felonies, in addition to his twenty-five year criminal history, several other misdemeanor convictions, his overall character, and the crimes he committed here subjected him to treatment as a persistent felon, with conversion of determinate sentences to sentences of life in prison. Hon. Mark J. Caruso, in his capacity as acting Schenectady County Court Judge presided. The case was prosecuted by Special Victim’s Bureau Chief John J. Carson for the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office. Mr. Hodgson was represented by assigned counsel Gennaro D. Calabrese, of the Calabrese Law Firm, PLLC.