DA Brooks Baker: “The victim showed tremendous courage”
From the Steuben County District Attorney’s Office,
Matthew Kapp of Howard Sentenced to 90 years on Steuben County Rape Convictions
Bath, NY: In August, Matthew Kapp, 51 of Howard was found Guilty by a Steuben County Jury of 6 Counts of Rape in the First Degree, each a class B violent felony and 6 Counts of Coercion in 2nd Degree, each a class E felony. The jury found that Kapp had forcibly raped his step-daughter on 6 occasions between 2015 and 2019 in the Town of Avoca, using violence and threats to rape other individuals to coerce her to engage in sexual intercourse with him.
Today, Kapp appeared before Steuben County Court Judge Mathew K. McCarthy for sentencing. Before rendering sentence, the Judge reviewed the Pre-Sentence Investigation which contained the Defendant’s statements about the crime and heard statements from District Attorney Brooks Baker and Defense Attorney Susan Betzjitomir. Kapp did not address the Court.
After noting the Defendant accepted no responsibility for his actions and continued to wrongly blame the Victim for his crimes, Judge McCarthy sentenced the Defendant to 15 years in State Prison plus 5 years of post-release supervision on each Rape 1st count – consecutive to each other – for a total of 90 years in New York State Prison plus 30 years of post-release supervision. Kapp was also sentence to 1 1/3 – 4 years on each count of Coercion in the 2nd Degree, with those sentences to run concurrently with the Rape sentences.
District Attorney Baker, who tried the case, was pleased with the sentence. “This was a difficult case for everyone involved, the Victim showed tremendous courage in coming forward and going forward. The proof at trial demonstrated the Defendant engaged in a pattern of violent and controlling behavior that allowed this conduct to go unchecked for years – the conduct here was truly disturbing. Few things were more telling or chilling than the Victim’s Impact Statement where she summarized Kapp as “Prison guard, abuser and baby killer (based upon the abortions he forced to have to cover Rape-based pregnancies)” – I can only hope that this sentence allows the Victim to finally move forward – and protects the rest of society from this remorseless predator.”
Baker also praised law enforcement efforts in this case: “Investigator Mark Procopio of the District Attorney’s Office and Inv. Donald Lewis of the Sheriff’s Office (now Bath Village Police Chief) put in amazing effort, working back through the years to locate the evidence needed to make justice happen in this case.”
After sentencing, the Defendant was remanded to Steuben County Jail to be transported to a New York State Prison where he will spend the next nine decades.
