Jose Pirir Morales is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 7 after admitting to a violent 2025 attack in the Village of Suffern.
NEW CITY, N.Y. — A 27-year-old Suffern man has pleaded guilty to first-degree rape in connection with a violent attack on a woman who was walking home last year, according to the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office.
Jose Pirir Morales entered the guilty plea July 9 before Rockland County Court Judge Kevin F. Russo, District Attorney Thomas E. Walsh II announced Tuesday.
Morales pleaded guilty to the sole count of an indictment charging him with first-degree rape, a Class B violent felony under New York state law.
According to prosecutors, Morales approached the victim from behind during the early morning hours of Sept. 20, 2025, while she was walking to her residence in the Village of Suffern. He then physically assaulted her and subjected her to forcible sexual intercourse.
The Suffern Police Department investigated the case with assistance from the District Attorney’s Office Special Victims Unit.
Prosecutors recommended that Morales receive a 15-year state prison sentence, followed by a period of post-release supervision. They also requested a full stay-away order of protection for the victim.
As part of the guilty plea, however, Russo promised Morales a sentence of five years in state prison, the minimum permitted for the offense, followed by 10 years of post-release supervision. The sentence will also include a full stay-away order of protection.
Walsh criticized the promised sentence, saying it did not adequately reflect the seriousness of the attack.
“The minimum sentence permitted by the law of five years in state prison promised by Judge Russo does not adequately reflect the gravity of the defendant’s conduct,” Walsh said in a statement.
The district attorney added that he believed the sentence undermined public confidence in the courts and failed to serve the interests of justice.
Morales is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 7. Following his eventual release from prison, he will be required to register as a sex offender.
The case was prosecuted by Supervising Assistant District Attorney Gerard M. Damiani III of the Special Victims Unit.