Freeing a ‘monster’
A sex fiend who killed a teenage girl in Rockland County won parole on his ninth try — and now local officials are scrambling to ensure the “monster” never returns anywhere near the scene of his crime.
Robert McCain, 60, is set to be sprung from prison in August, following a recent decision by the state Parole Board in connection with his murder conviction in the grisly 1980 stabbing of 16-year-old Paula Bohovesky in Pearl River.
The move followed last year’s release of co-defendant Richard LaBarbera, whose conditions of parole ban him from Rockland, where Bohovesky’s mom, Lois Bohovesky, still lives in Pearl River.
LaBarbera, 61, also is required to wear a GPS ankle monitor to ensure compliance.
In a statement, Rockland County Executive Ed Day urged the Parole Board to impose similar restrictions on McCain, calling him “a monster who does not deserve to walk free on our streets while our community still suffers from the loss and pain he caused.”
Day and Assemblyman Mike Lawler (R-Pearl River) also plan to appear in Pearl River on Thursday to publicly demand that the entire Parole Board resign or be removed by Gov. Cuomo.
“This is another in a long list of horrendous decisions by the Parole Board, releasing unrepentant murderers, rapists and cop-killers over the past couple of years,” Lawler said Monday.
“They’ve lost sight of what their mission is.”
Lawler added: “This decision — coming on the heels of the release of Richard LaBarbera — is a complete slap in the face of Lois Bohovesky, their family and the entire community.”
Paula, a high-school honors student, was walking home from her part-time job at the Pearl River Public Library on Oct. 28, 1980, when McCain and LaBarbera spotted her from inside a local bar where they’d spent the day drinking.
Paula was just two blocks from her house when McCain hurled a piece of pavement at her head and beat her, after which the two men dragged her behind a vacant house to sexually assault her.
LaBarbera stabbed Paula five times in the back and her battered body was found face-down near a pool of blood the next morning, with her jeans pulled down around her ankles.
Both men were convicted of second-degree murder following a trial in 1981 and received maximum prison terms of 25 years to life.
Former Rockland County Legislator John Murphy, whose daughter was a classmate of Paula’s, said Lois Bohovesky learned about the Parole Board’s decision regarding McCain on Saturday and was too shaken to discuss it with a reporter.
“We speak to each other every day. We had breakfast this morning,” he said. “She’s not doing good, she’s 89 years old and this news came to her two days after her 89th birthday.”
Murphy said he and other community members suspect the decision to free McCain was “a result of the state strategy not to hold older prisoners in jail.”
In a prepared statement, the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said the Parole Board bases decisions on the state Executive Law and “follow the statutory requirements,” which include considering whether a convict can “successfully reintegrate into the community” and poses a “risk to public safety.”