A man admitted he sexually abused his step-granddaughter in the Hudson Valley.

On Friday in Orange County Court, 69-year-old Stanley Allen of Thomasville, N.C. was sentenced to eight years in prison in connection with the sexual abuse of his wife’s granddaughter.

In December 2017, Allen pleaded guilty to criminal sexual act.

According to the Orange County District Attorney's Office, Allen was married to the child's maternal grandmother and acted like the child's grandfather, to the point where the young girl called him "Pop Pop."

Allen used to own property in the Town of Wallkill. The child spent her days in the summer being watched by her grandparents. Allen sexually abused the child multiple times in a garage on the Wallkill property, dating back to when the child was 6 or 7, officials say.

Allen confessed to sexually abusing the girl when she was 10. The abuse stopped when he moved out of New York State.

“The sexual abuse of any child is despicable,” Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler said, “but it’s especially troubling when it’s committed over the course of years by someone the child looks up to."

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