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Springfield Gdns father sentenced in child sex abuse of relatives: DA

By Rich Bockmann

A Springfield Gardens father who appeared to be an upstanding member of his community as a court officer and a volunteer basketball coach at his daughter’s high school was sentenced to more than 25 years in prison earlier this week after he was convicted of sexually abusing young relatives and owning child pornography, the Queens district attorney’s office said.

Following a six-week trial, Kerbert Dixon, 50, was sentenced Monday to 25 1/3 to 32 1/3 years in prison for abusing two young female family members and possessing hundreds of pornographic videos and images, District Attorney Richard Brown said.

“The defendant has now been held accountable and appropriately punished for the vile acts he committed against two young family members,” he said. “They, like the children depicted being sexually abused in the photographs found on his computer, must now suffer the burden of bearing the emotional scars of having been victimized by a sexual predator.”

Queens County Supreme Court Judge Richard Buchter was overcome with emotion at Monday’s sentencing, calling Dixon a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

“[Dixon] cultivated the image of ‘Uncle Kirby’ to his nieces, but kindness didn’t motivate him. He cozied up, engaged and groomed them into sacrificial lambs. A diabolical uncle was unmasked,” the judge said, according to the New York Post.

Dixon was convicted of abusing the two young girls, ages 10 and 14 at the time, at his Springfield Gardens home over an 18-month period in 2008 and 2009, the DA said.

Brown said the authorities became aware of the former court officer’s crimes when one of the victims told her mother what had happened. When police searched Dixon’s home, they found hundreds of pornographic videos and images, the district attorney said.

Dixon worked as a court officer at the Civil Court in Jamaica and volunteered as an assistant coach at Murry Bergtraum High School in Manhattan where one of his daughters was on the school’s successful basketball team.

Dixon’s older daughter played for Christ the King and then the University of Connecticut, and while his 2011 arrest had nothing to do with his basketball activities, it sent shockwaves through the community and was covered by national sports press.

Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.