Derrick Clancy sentenced for sexually assaulting women during burglaries

A man who broke into the homes of two elderly women in Mastic Beach and sexually assaulted them was sentenced Friday to 22 years to life in prison.

Derrick Clancy, 43, who authorities said was homeless, quoted the Bible and insisted to Acting Supreme Court Justice Karen M. Wilutis in Riverhead court that he regretted the attacks.

“I hate what I have done,” he said. “I hate what I have done to those innocent women in their homes.”

But one of the victims delivered a statement to the court in which she lambasted Clancy.

“Derrick Clancy, you are a pathetic excuse for a man,” the woman said. “You are a disgrace to humanity.”

She described fighting him off, even though she was a senior citizen. “You were bested by me, a 75-year-old woman,” she said.

After the sentencing, the victim said she was disappointed and wished it had been even more severe. Prosecutors had asked for 25 years to life.

At 4 a.m. on Oct. 10, Clancy cut a hole in a window screen to get into the home of a 78-year-old woman, according to prosecutors. Claiming he had a knife, he physically and sexually abused her, and then fled after she pressed a medical alert button.

A week later, at 12:40 a.m. Oct. 17, he climbed through a window to get into the home of another woman who lived just blocks away, authorities said. He abused her, too, before fleeing, prosecutors said. Both women were treated at a hospital after the attacks.

Police arrested Clancy four days later on Oct. 21. Clancy was identified as a suspect after investigators matched his DNA with a sample taken from a window in one of the homes. He has prior violent felony convictions for sexual abuse in 2000 and a 2011 robbery, for which he was still on parole.

He pleaded guilty on April 30 to several charges in the Mastic Beach cases: two counts of first degree burglary, two counts of first degree sexual abuse, two counts of second degree assault, and two counts of criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation.

“Breaking into the homes of elderly women and subjecting them to sexual abuse is utterly reprehensible,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Friday in a statement. “My office will continue to aggressively pursue justice for our most vulnerable citizens and ensure that those who prey on them face the full consequence of their actions.”

The first victim has died since the attack, prosecutors said Friday.

Wilutis told Clancy that his expressions of remorse and acknowledgment of what he did “is a first step.” But she also said he “preyed upon” elderly women as she meted out his punishment.

That followed two dueling narratives presented by Clancy along with the victim and the granddaughter of the other victim who died in May.

“I will never say that any kind of sexual assault is OK, but sexually assaulting an elderly woman, someone's grandmother, my grandmother, is a different kind of sick,” the granddaughter said.

When she finished, the judge told her, “Your grandmother is very proud of you.”

The victim told the courtroom that years of prison for other sex crimes had done nothing to change Clancy. 

“Your suffering should not end with your release from prison or with your death — whichever comes first,” she said. “After rotting in prison for the rest of your worthless life, I condemn what's left of your evil soul to burn in the fiery furnace of hell for all eternity. May God abandon you. May you never find peace.”

Clancy argued that a disastrous childhood set him up for a life of crime as an adult.

“I feel so ashamed,” he said. “I'm not just sorry. I repent.”