Convicted killer of teen in 1980 charged with forcible touching while out on parole
Family and friends of 16-year-old Paula Bohovesky were furious Friday morning to learn that one of the men convicted of killing her in 1980 was just charged with forcibly touching a woman at a dog park in Cortlandt.
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A convicted child murderer — who was released on parole after 40 years in jail — is now charged with groping a woman at a public park.
Family and friends of 16-year-old Paula Bohovesky were furious Friday morning to learn that one of the men convicted of killing her in 1980 was just charged with forcibly touching a woman at a dog park in Cortlandt.
A devoted group of Bohovesky family advocates lobbied the New York State Parole Board for years to keep Paula's killers — Robert McCain and Richard LaBarbera — in jail for life.
They were disappointed when the parole board voted to release the men on parole after 40 years in prison.
They said the family was most concerned that the men might hurt someone else if released.
Investigators familiar with the 1980 murder case said the men hit Paula in her head with a piece of pavement, stabbed her several times, and sexually assaulted her as she was leaving the Pearl River library to go home.
LaBarbera was released in 2020, and was jailed soon after for violating parole, officials said, by drinking alcohol.
McCain was released in 2021.
McCain's next brush with the law was earlier this month.
Westchester County police said that on July 5, McCain groped a woman he was speaking with at the Cortlandt dog park.
Rockland County Executive Ed Day has said from the beginning that releasing the men was a bad idea, and now he wants any remaining parole board members who agreed to release the men to resign.
Day is now hoping for passage of state and federal legislation to mandate life sentences without parole for people who have killed and sexually assaulted children.
McCain has not made bail.He is still being held at the Westchester County Jail and is scheduled to appear Monday morning in Cortlandt Justice Court.
Officials with the state parole board were not immediately available for comment.
District 17 Rep. Mike Lawler tried to pass legislation to keep offenders like McCain and LaBarbera from ever being released from prison.
When he was in the state Assembly, Lawler introduced a bill that would not allow parole for anyone who kills and sexually assaults a child.
The legislation stalled.
Now, as a congressional representative, Lawler is pushing a similar federal bill that would apply just to federal offenses.
