Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita announces that 41-year-old Bobby Dunnigan of Springville pleaded guilty as charged to Rape in the Third Degree and Unlawfully Dealing with a Child in the First Degree before Erie County Court Judge Kenneth F. Case. Dunnigan entered the plea after the jury selection had been completed in his trial. These are the highest charges for which the defendant could have been convicted.  In other words, Dunnigan did not receive a so-called “plea bargain” and was instead prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. 

On May 15, 2013 Dunnigan and the victim’s 37-year-old mother picked up the victim from a Cattaraugus County High School. Dunnigan drove both to the Stadium View Inn motel in Hamburg, where he rented a room. Once inside, the three began drinking vodka and beer. Dunnigan then raped the victim and had sexual intercourse with the victim’s mother.

Prior to this trial, the victim’s mother pleaded guilty to Rape in the Third Degree (the same crime for which Dunnigan was indicted and convicted), and was sentenced to 9 months in jail. Her sentence was contingent upon her cooperation in the prosecution of Dunnigan.

Dunnigan faces a maximum of 4 years in state prison when he is sentenced on July 13, 2015, at 9:30 a.m. before Judge Case. 

The case was successfully prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Ryan D. Haggerty, who is assigned to DA Sedita’s Special Victims Bureau. District Attorney Sedita made special mention of the investigative efforts of Erie County Sheriff’s Detective James Hatch, whose investigation was critical to securing the convictions of both degenerates.