Shane Piche, 26, plead guilty on Thursday, April 24th to the charges of raping a 14 year old female student.
What We Know:
- Piche worked as a bus driver for Watertown City School District. This is where he met his victim. Piche and his victim kept contact through social media regularly.
- On June 10, 2018, Piche invited the young girl to his home outside of Watertown where he served her alcohol and then raped her.
- Piche was also charged with unlawfully dealing with a child and endangering the welfare of a child in addition to the rape charges. He plead guilty to third degree rape.
- James P. McClusky, New York State Senate Supreme Court judge, sentenced Piche to ten years probation. He also has to register as a level one sex offender and pay $1425 in fees. A level one sex offender is considered low risk of re-offense and only his zip code will be listed online.
- According to Jefferson County Chief Prosecutor Patricia Dzuiba, they asked for a split probation and that he be registered higher on the sex offender list. Piche could have served up to four years in prison in addition to probation time. Judge McClusky had the final say and based his decision on the pre-sentencing report. This report stated that Piche had no criminal history and only assaulted one victim.
Piche’s attorney, Eric Swartz, stated “He’ll be a felon for the rest of his life. This isn’t something that didn’t cause him pain and this isn’t something that didn’t have consequences.”
