MANHATTAN — The man who sexually assaulted a 2-year-old girl in a public bathroom while he was supposed to be babysitting her, pleaded guilty to a criminal sex act and possession of child pornography Wednesday, prosecutors said.
A passerby called police after seeing Jason Carroll, 32, harm the child in the bathroom near the Classic Playground at Riverside Park at West 74th Street on Sept. 24, 2013. The little girl's mother had asked him to look after the child after his sister, who normally babysat for the family, couldn't do it, prosecutors said.
“An act of violence against a child is the worst imaginable crime,” said District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. following Carroll's guilty plea. “In this case, concerned members of the public alerted law enforcement about the defendant’s conduct, and their heroism in protecting a defenseless young child cannot be understated.”
While at the precinct following his arrest in 2013, Carroll admitted what he had done and described the assault to police in disturbing detail, court records show.
“I stopped because I knew what I was doing is wrong," he told police. "I do not have a girlfriend right now and I was thinking about this child in a sexual way."
Prosecutors also said they found child pornography on Carroll’s phone.
His Legal Aid lawyer Eliza Orlins declined to comment on the case but confirmed that under the plea deal, Carroll will spend 25 years in prison followed by 20 years of supervision after his release. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 6.
Following his arrest, Carroll feared his mother would be angry at him.
“My mother is going to say, ‘You’re a dummy, you’re a jacka--, I told you not to do it'.”
