Steve Lieberman

slieberm@lohud.com

A former South Nyack church youth group leader is expected to surrender to serve a sentence of three years in state prison for sexually abusing a 4-year-old girl, after a court denied his appeal.

Todd Retallack, 50, once married with children, is expected to surrender Tuesday. He was convicted by a Rockland County jury on Dec. 8, 2012, of first-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.

He was a friend of the child's family and had been babysitting when the abuse occurred, authorities said.

Retallack, who officials said also once served as a youth group leader at the Living Christ Church in Nyack, was arrested by South Nyack-Grand View police in May 2011.

"This case called for a prison sentence to both punish the defendant and to serve as a warning to other individuals who prey on children," Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said.

Retallack's lawyers, Daniel Bertolino and John Edwards, felt the evidence was replete with reasonable doubt. But the Appellate Division rejected Retallack's appeal, upholding the verdict and prison sentence given by Judge Barry Warhit.

The judicial panel found the weight of the evidence supported the jury's guilty verdict. Judge Victoria Graffeo, a member of the state Court of Appeals, later declined to hear Retallack's appeal of the lower court decision.

During his appeals, the judge required Retallack to wear an ankle bracelet with 24-hour monitoring at his own expense, Zugibe said.