A Syracuse woman - facing a Cayuga County charge alleging she sodomized a young boy and recently was sentenced to state prison in Seneca County for a similar crime - may be a candidate for civil confinement following her prison term, Seneca County District Attorney Richard Swinehart said.

Misty Burns, 28, of 400 James St., was charged by the New York State Police in Waterloo with allegedly sexually abusing a boy younger than 5 years old between 1999 and 2001 in the city of Auburn. The felony charge of first-degree sodomy is still pending.

She was sentenced in Seneca County Court April 18 by Judge Dennis Bender to four years in state prison and five years post-release supervision for the class C felony of attempted course of sexual conduct against a child.

“I'm sure she will be at least looked at for civil confinement,” Swinehart said. “I think her case would at least be scrutinized.”

Under a new law, sexual offenders can be confined in civil facilities following the end of their state prison terms.

“These are not the first instances in her career,” the prosecutor added. Swinehart's policy does not reveal the genders or ages of crime victims.

Burns lived in Seneca County when she committed the crime within that jurisdiction. She moved to Cayuga County during the time frame of that alleged crime, and then she moved to Onondaga County, Swinehart said.

Burns was previously sentenced to state prison time for a Seneca County conviction. In 2003, she was living in Seneca Falls when she was charged with the rape of a 15-year-old boy by having a sexual relationship with him.

In the Cayuga County case, a state police investigation started last June when the victim disclosed the alleged sodomy.

Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net