Pine Bush man arrested on felony child sex charge

Montgomery Town Police arrested a 35-year-old Pine Bush man on a felony charge of criminal sex act after police alleged the case involved sexual contact with an underaged child. The arrest puts a serious child-safety allegation squarely in the local criminal-justice system, with Orange County residents watching for the next court step.

Pine Bush is a hamlet in the Town of Crawford, and cases involving children often draw immediate attention there because they land close to school families, neighborhood networks and the institutions residents rely on for safety. In Orange County, child-abuse investigations are supposed to minimize harm to victims and families by investigating alleged sexual and physical abuse against children, apprehending perpetrators and helping the District Attorney’s Office prosecute cases. The county sheriff’s office says it covers 839 square miles across 3 cities, 20 towns and 19 villages, serving more than 379,000 residents, which shows how quickly a case like this can ripple well beyond one arrest.

Under New York law, a first-degree criminal sexual act can apply when the victim is under 11, or when the victim is under 13 and the defendant is 18 or older. State public-safety materials also say people convicted of sex offenses must register under the Sex Offender Registration Act, a requirement meant to help law enforcement track offenders and protect communities.

The Pine Bush arrest also lands in a county that has pursued child-sex cases there before. Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler previously announced that Allan Bressler of Pine Bush pleaded guilty on October 31, 2024, to course of sexual conduct against a child in the first degree. Hoovler said Bressler was sentenced on February 20, 2025, to 18 years in prison followed by 10 years of post-release supervision after conduct that occurred between March 1, 2008 and February 1, 2013 and involved a child less than 11 years old.

For Orange County families, the latest arrest is another reminder of how quickly child-protection cases move from police investigation to court action. The charge is a felony, the allegation involves an underaged child, and the case is now part of a broader countywide public-safety effort that treats child abuse as a top enforcement priority.