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Westchester Basketball Coach Sentenced 25 Years To Life For Sexually Abusing Girls

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A former Westchester County basketball coach who has admitted to committing sex acts against three grade-school girls has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore announced that Richard Dinizo, of Cortlandt Manor, was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to three counts of predatory sexual child assault.

Prosecutors say the offenses occurred between 2008 and 2010. They say Dinizo had the girls -- two who were 7 years old and one who was 10 -- wear masks to cover their eyes for a tasting game, then had them engage in oral sex. He also recorded the acts, prosecutors say.

Dinizo had coached at various schools and leagues, but investigators said he had not coached the girls involved.

A federal case against him, alleging sexual exploitation of a child and child pornography, is pending. His lawyer called his clients behavior an "aberration."

A father of three, Dinizo is an Italian citizen who has been living legally in the U.S.

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