WHITE PLAINS – A 39-year-old Newburgh man has been sentenced in federal court to life in prison for his years-long sexual abuse of children.
Vernon Copeland III was charged with aggravated sexual assault, enticement, and transportation of a minor in connection with his crimes.
According to court documents and evidence at trial, Copeland raped two minors in a motel on Thanksgiving Day in 2004. One was 17 at the time and another, who was 15.
In 2010, he raped another minor who was 16, in a Newburgh apartment.
From 2016 to 2020, Copeland repeatedly raped and sexually abused a girl when she was between the ages of nine and 13.
In 2020, he fled New York State when he suspected that law enforcement might be closing in on him. He was arrested in Florida in 2021 and brought back to New York to be prosecuted.
Copeland was also sentenced to lifetime supervision release.
“For years, Vernon E. Copeland III preyed on some of the most defenseless members of our community,” said US Attorney Damian Williams. “Four of his victims, one of whom was just nine years old when Copeland began abusing her, faced him at trial and courageously told their harrowing stories. This lengthy prison sentence finally holds Copeland accountable for his horrific crimes and the devastating harm and trauma he caused to minor victims and their families.”
