County official’s rape conviction upheld
ALBANY — A state Appellate Court upheld the rape and sexual assault conviction in Albany County of a former Erie County official, saying
Thursday that the sentence was not harsh or excessive.
After a week-long trial, a jury decided that during the late evening of Dec. 5, 2017 and early the next morning Albert Dirschberger had sex with a woman he knew in a State Street, Albany, hotel without her consent, District Attorney David Soares’ office said in a statement about the decision. At the time, Dirschberger, now 56, of Lancaster, was Erie County social services commissioner.
He was sentenced to five years in state prison and 10 years of post-release supervision in April 2019 on third-degree rape and third-degree count of criminal sexual act charges. He appealed to the state Appellate Division, Third Department, over the length of the sentence and an issue with a juror, but in the decision released Thursday, the court affirmed his conviction and sentence.
The court said Dirschberger abused his power as a commissioner to arrange a sexual encounter with a young subordinate that was nonconsensual and, according to evidence and the victim’s statement at sentencing, caused her long-lasting trauma. Under the circumstances, the sentence is not considered excessive, judges said.
“Supreme Court considered defendant’s lack of prior criminal history and more than 50 letters attesting to his character,” according to the court’s order. “However, the court indicated that defendant’s testimony explaining the encounter as consensual was incredible and could not be reconciled with the physical evidence of trauma.”