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U.S. Man Sentenced for Raping Adopted Russian Daughter
A U.S. national has been sentenced to 35-70 years in state prison for raping his adopted daughter over a period of five years. That’s on top of more than 15 years in federal prison that 47-year-old Matthew Alan Mancuso, of Plum, is already serving for posting sexually explicit pictures of the girl on the Internet, the Associated Press reported.
Mancuso did not deny his actions but defense attorney Stanley Greenfield says he’ll appeal the conviction and sentencing in Allegheny County Court. He says it amounts to double jeopardy: a second prosecution on the same set of facts.
Mancuso adopted the girl from a Russian orphanage in 1998 when she was five years old. He sexually abused her until she was taken from his home in a 2003 FBI raid.
When Matthew Alan Mancuso applied to adopt a child from Russia, the case worker who checked his background called him a “caring, loving man” and a “highly moral individual.” On Thursday, the retired engineer from Plum was called “perverse” and “dangerous” and “monster,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.
Common Pleas Judge Donna Jo McDaniel imposed a 35- to 70-year sentence — which will begin after he completes a 15 1/2-year federal sentence for possessing and distributing child porn — for rapes and other sexual abuse that began the night he adopted the 5-year-old girl from a Russian orphanage in 1998.
“I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and I must say this is one of the most heinous cases of child abuse I have ever presided over,” McDaniel said. “I believe your abuse was premeditated. You chose to adopt this girl only so you could sexually abuse her.”
As adoption advocates around the country celebrated the stiff sentence, many still pondered how such a predator could get his hands on a child.
“There have been more than 49,000 adoptions of Russian children by American families since 1992, and this is the only instance like this we’re aware of. But it should never happen,” said Thomas Atwood, president of the National Council for Adoption in Alexandria, Va. “It’s hard to answer how it happened. One perspective is there’s no fail-safe way to prevent child abuse.”
District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. has promised his office would “review” the circumstances surrounding Mancuso’s adoption of the girl, who is now 12 and living with a new adoptive mother out of state. Zappala did not elaborate on how that review will proceed.
“The first order of business was to make sure Mr. Mancuso spent the rest of his life behind bars,” he said. “That’s been accomplished. I have always been troubled as to how this defendant came to be in custody of this child.”
A U.S. national has been sentenced to 35-70 years in state prison for raping his adopted daughter over a period of five years. That’s on top of more than 15 years in federal prison that 47-year-old Matthew Alan Mancuso, of Plum, is already serving for posting sexually explicit pictures of the girl on the Internet, the Associated Press reported.
Mancuso did not deny his actions but defense attorney Stanley Greenfield says he’ll appeal the conviction and sentencing in Allegheny County Court. He says it amounts to double jeopardy: a second prosecution on the same set of facts.
Mancuso adopted the girl from a Russian orphanage in 1998 when she was five years old. He sexually abused her until she was taken from his home in a 2003 FBI raid.
When Matthew Alan Mancuso applied to adopt a child from Russia, the case worker who checked his background called him a “caring, loving man” and a “highly moral individual.” On Thursday, the retired engineer from Plum was called “perverse” and “dangerous” and “monster,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.
Common Pleas Judge Donna Jo McDaniel imposed a 35- to 70-year sentence — which will begin after he completes a 15 1/2-year federal sentence for possessing and distributing child porn — for rapes and other sexual abuse that began the night he adopted the 5-year-old girl from a Russian orphanage in 1998.
“I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and I must say this is one of the most heinous cases of child abuse I have ever presided over,” McDaniel said. “I believe your abuse was premeditated. You chose to adopt this girl only so you could sexually abuse her.”
As adoption advocates around the country celebrated the stiff sentence, many still pondered how such a predator could get his hands on a child.
“There have been more than 49,000 adoptions of Russian children by American families since 1992, and this is the only instance like this we’re aware of. But it should never happen,” said Thomas Atwood, president of the National Council for Adoption in Alexandria, Va. “It’s hard to answer how it happened. One perspective is there’s no fail-safe way to prevent child abuse.”
District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. has promised his office would “review” the circumstances surrounding Mancuso’s adoption of the girl, who is now 12 and living with a new adoptive mother out of state. Zappala did not elaborate on how that review will proceed.
“The first order of business was to make sure Mr. Mancuso spent the rest of his life behind bars,” he said. “That’s been accomplished. I have always been troubled as to how this defendant came to be in custody of this child.”
