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Man Sentenced For Raping Adopted Daughter

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November 17, 2005

A man convicted of raping and photographing his own adopted daughter during Disney World vacations got a harsh sentence Thursday.

Matthew Alan Mancuso was sentenced to 35 to 70 years in prison, WESH 2 News reported.

That will be tacked onto the current 15-year federal sentence he's already serving.

The sentencing was for the years of abuse he heaped on the girl he adopted after his divorce and brought to the U.S. from Russia.

Mancuso showed no emotion outside court. Inside, a judge sentenced him for putting his adopted daughter through years of abuse. Mancuso's ex-wife, divorced from him for 17 years, said he did the same thing to their own biological daughter.

"He definitely is a monster. And just by the look on him in the courtroom, what I saw was a monster. And I hope he stays in there and cannot hurt no one ever again," said Doreen McDade.

Investigators in Orange County said Mancuso brought the Russian girl to Central Florida over several years on vacation, taking scores of pornographic pictures and selling them to other online pedophiles. The FBI agent who served a search warrant on Mancuso's home said the girl wanted to tell them what happened.

"She said, 'I have a secret,' and she just disclosed," said FBI Agent Denise Holtz.

In 2004, that led to a 15-year child porn sentence for Mancuso. But in an exclusive interview with WESH 2 News, the Russian girl named Mea said that wasn't enough.

"I think it's wrong how he didn't get charged with half the stuff he did, and I don't think that should happen to anybody," she said.

One day after that interview aired, prosecutors filed the rape charges for which Mancuso was sentenced on Thursday.

Mea now has a new mom and a new home. His ex-wife said Mancuso was never prosecuted for the alleged abuse of their biological daughter. He is already two years into the 15-year sentence for the child porn photos.

Officials in Orange County said they still plan to go forward with charges against Mancuso for the molestation that allegedly happened at Disney World.

2005 Nov 17