36 year old sentenced to 25 years of active time for sexual battery of minor

By Linda Cicoira

A 36-year-old man was sentenced Monday in Northampton Circuit Court to 25 years of active time in prison for 2020 child sex crimes that occurred at a local campground.

Kenneth Joseph Defazio, who has addresses in Suffolk and Exmore, continued to declare his innocence just before being sentenced. In January, a jury convicted him of aggravated sexual battery of a girl under the age of 13, committing an indecent act with the child, and a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. A charge of forcible sodomy with a victim under 13 years old was not prosecuted.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Jack Thornton said, “The court knows the breach of the trust that happened here. He had a previous sex offense against children in New York.

Defazio said a crime was never committed. In the first case, the defendant said the alleged victim said she was 16 when she was really over 21. He urged retired Judge Les L. Lilley to review the evidence. Defazio plans to appeal.

Lilley said there will be three years of post-release supervision, including electronic monitoring as determined by the Department of Corrections.

“He took my baby away,” the girl’s mother testified. “He took her childhood, her love of life. She wound up in a mental institution for severe depression and anxiety. He’s ruined all of our lives. We were a close-knit family and now we are not.” Since the jury’s decision, “She’s come out of her shell more. There has been a major improvement since the last court date.”