Ex-restaurant owner is indicted for rape
Robert T. Bruno, 59, of Newburgh, was arrested last September for allegedly having sexual intercourse with a minor.
The former owner of two Saugerties restaurants has been indicted on five counts of rape and one count of criminal sexual act, all felonies.
Robert T. Bruno, 59, of Kyla Court, Newburgh, was indicted by an Ulster County grand jury on Feb. 25, according a report provided to the Freeman on Monday by the county District Attorney’s Office.
The indictment stemmed from Bruno’s arrest on Sept. 4, 2019.
Police said at the time that an investigation by Saugerties Police Department detectives and the Ulster County Family and Child Advocacy Center concluded Bruno had had sexual intercourse with a minor.
Bruno was arraigned in Saugerties Village Court and sent to the Ulster County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail, but he posted a $15,000 bond on Sept. 13 and was released, according to a jail official.
Then, on Dec. 9, Bruno was charged by the Greene County District Attorney’s office with rape and course of sexual conduct against a child.
Greene County Assistant District Attorney Denise Kerrigan said at the time that Bruno’s arrest followed an investigation by state police and the Child Advocacy Center in Catskill.
Bruno currently is being held in the Albany County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail. (Greene County has housed inmates outside of the county since closing its jail in April 2018.)
Bruno formerly owned Bruno’s Pizza on U.S. Route 9W and Delicioso on Partition Street, both in Saugerties, according to Saugerties Police Chief Joseph Sinagra. Both businesses have closed.