A 61-year-old Peekskill painter-for-hire received an enhanced sentence for the rape of an 11-year-old between Feb. 15 and March 31 of 2024 after he violated his plea agreement.
Anselmo Yambay Pena was sentenced on Friday, Jan. 16, by Judge Robert Prisco to 20 years of imprisonment for rape in the first degree and 20 years of post-release imprisonment, with an additional three years added to the 17 years imprisonment he originally was given.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Baehr, of the special prosecutions division, said the case has left a severe impact on both the victim’s and her mother’s mental, emotional and physical health.
“There’s no level of incarceration that can affect or heal the emotional and mental trauma that this 11-year-old child had to suffer at the hands of this stranger,” Baehr said. “I’m just hoping that this sentence brings her a level of closure, and through significant therapy and time she’ll be able to move forward.”
(On the same day, another Peekskill man, Medardo Reyes, pleaded guilty to repeated sexual abuse of a child under the age of 13 for more than a year.)
The enhanced sentence of Yambay Pena is a result of his violating his plea agreement on Sept. 2, 2025, which required him not to deny or try to minimize his responsibility for the charge of rape in the first degree — to which he pled guilty — or he would no longer be guaranteed his promised sentence.
On Feb. 15, 2024, Yambay Pena was hired to paint apartments at a residential building in Peekskill. In one apartment belonging to the victim’s family, Yambay Pena raped the victim, who was then 11 years old. Upon learning of the incident, the child’s parents reported it to the Peekskill Police Department, which conducted an investigation and arrested Yambay Pena on Sept. 10, 2024.
Yambay Pena admitted to the rape on Sept. 2, 2025, but later, on Oct. 7, the court reviewed a pre-sentence investigation report, which, if true, would constitute a denial of responsibility. A probation officer said that Yambay Pena alleged to him that the victim’s mother and her boyfriend were attempting to blackmail him for money and had falsely accused him of wrongdoing.
In lieu of an Outley hearing, in which a probation officer would have testified, the senior assistant district attorney and attorneys for Yambay Pena agreed to an additional three years in state prison. Through a Spanish interpreter, Yambay Pena admitted to saying what the probation officer alleged that he said.
In a statement, Tuesday, Jan. 20, Westchester District Attorney Susan Cacace thanked Prisco:
“The defendant’s refusal to accept responsibility for his grievous crimes only compounds the harms he committed and retraumatizes the victim in this case,” Cacace said. Those who abuse defenseless children must be given penalties severe enough to deter future misconduct, and I thank Judge Prisco for taking the seriousness of the defendant’s denials into account when imposing the enhanced sentence.”
Yambay Pena was issued a full stay-away order of protection from the victim, including no communication either in person or a third party, mail, telephone, email, voicemail, or any electronic or other means. The order of protection remains in effect until and including Jan. 16 of 2074.
In addition, Yambay Pena is required to pay a $300 mandatory felony surcharge, a $25 crime victims assistance fee, a $50 DNA data bank fee, a $50 sex offender registration fee and a $1,000 supplemental sex offender victim fee.
Yambay Pena’s attorney, Milton Florez, asked for his client’s inmate card to be marked for potential medical attention. Florez said Yambay Pena’s family told him that he takes medication for an injury suffered falling from a ladder seven or eight years ago.
(Yambay Pena previously filed a lawsuit in connection to the alleged fall during a job in 2022, claiming it resulted in his needing to buy glasses, difficulty with speech, plus losing memory and the ability to speak English.)
Asked by the judge if he had anything he would like to state to the court before his sentence, Yambay Pena said, “No.”
(Prior to the sentencing, Yambay Pena’s attorney opposed the Peekskill Herald’s request to use still photography in the courtroom, saying the court must demonstrate non-partisanship, avoid sensationalism, and that photos could have adverse impacts on his client and family. The Herald’s request was granted by Judge Prisco on the basis of full transparency.)
