Results tagged “sexualassault”

A chef at the penthouse lounge 230 Fifth was arrested on Halloween after allegedly forcing himself on a Canadian woman dressed as a sexy lion. As the club's party was winding down at 3 a.m. on Sunday, 28-year-old Carlos Angel "pounced" on the woman as she came out of a restroom and shoved her back inside, sources say. He kissed her repeatedly while groping her, but she managed to slip away and alert a manager—who actually did the right thing by calling the police, not trying to hush it up!

Police are hoping that DNA testing may link a man they picked up in Harlem this weekend to the series of rapes that have occurred throughout Hamilton Heights over the last month. A Pennsylvania ex-con was picked up Saturday for questioning and is being held on an outstanding warrant as they await to see if his DNA matches a sample recovered from a discarded soda can during one of the four sexual assault incidents in Upper Manhattan. When the man was picked up over the weekend, he told cops, "If you're looking at me for something, I have a twin brother." (He doesn't.) But three of the four victims who have made it down to Special Victims Unit have failed to pick the suspect out of a lineup. Yesterday the Guardian Angels led a rally to continue to spread the word about the rapist. Assemblyman Keith Wright said, "This community will not rest until this person is arrested, indicted, convicted, and incarcerated." Wright is proposing $100,000 in state funds be made available for increased street lighting in the neighborhood.

A Staten Island man may have prevented the rape of a local 15-year-old girl when he heard her screams from inside the woods near his home and immediately raced out wielding a baseball bat. The girl was walking to a friend's house on Cleveland Avenue in Great Kills Thursday night around 9:30 p.m. when she was dragged into the woods by her neck by a man described as a heavyset Hispanic male, about 5-foot-5 and about 200 pounds. The girl said to her attacker, "Please don't rape me," and he responded, "No, don't scream."

Police believe that a 69-year-old woman raped in her apartment building at 155th Street and Riverside Drive was attacked by the same man who raped two other women in Hamilton Heights earlier this month. The latest victim was returning home from work at 4 a.m. to 765 Riverside Drive; WCBS 2 reports, "The victim passed mailboxes on her way in through the east entrance of the building. Then [she] proceeded down the stairs to the wood-paneled foyer where her attacker was apparently waiting. The manned elevator is unmanned after 2 a.m., so she had to use the automatic elevator nearby. She opened the door and her attacker apparently crossed the room and followed her" into the elevator, where she was attacked. There's surveillance video of the suspect and the building's shocked residents are asking for additional security and lighting. In the past incidents, the suspect raped a woman in an alleyway near West 148th Street and Broadway and inside another's building near West 144 Street and Convent Avenue.

City lifeguards have been getting nothing but bad press these days, but yesterday afternoon at a pool in Queens they came to the rescue of a young girl who was being sexually assaulted. Lifeguards at Fisher Pool in East Elmhurst were quick to respond when 20-year-old Julio Ajpacaja jumped in what locals call "a kids pool" around 4:30 and began groping a 13-year-old girl, asking her if she "wanted to play." Ajpacaja was pulled out and the cops were called in, eventually charging him with forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child. Paramedics examined the girl at the scene and witnesses say she was visibly shaken, but not seriously injured. One witness told WCBS 2, "That's sick, that's nasty, a grown man … what are you doing messing around with little kids?"

Police released a sketch of a man who is believed to have committed two sexual assaults in Hamilton Heights this month. According to 1010WINS, "The first incident occurred on Aug 1 around 8 p.m. Police say the man grabbed a 59-year-old woman and dragged her into an alleyway near West 148th Street and Broadway where she was sexually assaulted and robbed. On Aug 10 around 2 a.m. the man followed a 23-year-old woman into an elevator near West 144 Street and Convent Avenue where he sexually assaulted her and robbed her at knifepoint." And per the Daily News, the suspected is "described as black, in his 30s, 6 feet tall and of medium build," who wore "blue jeans, a black hooded sweatshirt and white sneakers with red stripes on the soles." People with information are urged to call CrimeStoppers (800-577-TIPS [8477]), entering tips at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or by texting their tips to CRIMES (274637), then enter TIP577.

The nighclub Marquee is back in the news after a Queens construction worker was indicted today for kidnapping a passed-out woman at the club, taking her home and raping her. In March, Luiz Zambrano, 39, allegedly found the inebriated 23-year-old passed out on a couch in the Chelsea hotspot where DA Robert Morgenthau says, "(He) approached the woman and began kissing her." He added that Zambrano then began dragging her and dropped the woman where she "fell headfirst into a wall and crumpled on the floor," but no one at Marquee assisted her. Zambrano put her in a cab that took them to his car and then drove to his College Point apartment, where he allegedly sexually assaulted her twice. During the second assault, the woman regained consciousness; the victim was able to lead the cops to Zambrano's house. The police also found that DNA left on the victim matched the "DNA found on another woman who said she'd been assaulted (at Marquee)." Zambrano, who was convicted of harassing a woman last year, pleaded not guilty and is out on $30,000 bail. Marquee was in the news last year when a woman disappeared after leaving there with a convicted sex offender.

Songwriter and film director Joseph Brooks was charged with a 91-count indictment yesterday for using his status as a onetime-Oscar winner to lure women with dreams of stardom into his apartment so that he could allegedly rape and sexually assault them. Brooks, 71, primarily used craigslist to advertise parts in "his next movie" that led to sexual assaults on at least 11 women at his apartment on East 63rd Street, mostly over the last two years. An investigator told reporters, “The Oscar was used as a prop. This could be you, this could be you holding this Oscar. If you do what I say.”

The NYPD is being accused of another sexual assault case involving two of its officers, this one in a suit by a Queens woman who claims she was sodomized inside a precinct bathroom stall by a cop while another officer held watch outside. The woman claims she was brought to a police station last February by Detective Oscar Sandino following a drug raid of her apartment. On the ride over, she alleges Sandino threatened that her children would be taken away and alluded that the only way to smooth things over was to have sex with him. Once back at the station, she says he barged in on her while she was in a bathroom stall, ordered her to take her pants down and said, "Wow, you have an earring down there," before groping and sodomizing her. Sandino is a married father of two and was placed on modified duty last March. He told the Post, "I am not a rapist." Police sources say that the woman's previous complaints to Internal Affairs were only about inappropriate comments and calls made by Sandino. The Elmhurst woman says that she once met up with Sandino wearing a wire, but that he caught on and merely threatened her.

Sixteen-year-old accused murderer John Katehis was simply a "goofy, impressionable teenager trying to be macho" says his lawyer. More information about the WABC radio newsman George Weber's murder case was made public at yesterday's arraignment, where Katehis pleaded not guilty. The teenager is claiming self-defense against Weber, whom he met off of Craigslist, trying to make an easy $60 off the man who billed himself as "smotherboy." Katehis says that he only remembers stabbing Weber once; cops say he stabbed him over fifty times. The Daily News reports that after stabbing Weber, "Katehis grabbed the $60 out of his pocket and pulled Weber's pants down. Then he rifled through drawers and 'lunchboxes' looking for more cash." Gay City News reports that because of the defendant's age, his lawyer plans to present the incident as sexual assault by Weber and their defense will be "related to homosexual panic defenses that attorneys have used for decades to win acquittals for their clients in attacks on gay men."

A Hunter College student was arrested yesterday for molesting three Manhattan boys in his care. Jonathan Then, 20, was "dragged out of class" by the cops yesterday morning and then charged with sexual abuse, predatory sexual assault and other charges. The Manhattan DA's office says the investigation is continuing: "We have learned that the defendant has been a live-in nanny and baby sitter for more than 20 families throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn and New Jersey, and that number is growing. Each family we have spoken to has given us names of other families who hired the defendant and whose homes the defendant has been in."

A day after the NYPD distributed the cellphone picture of a man accused of sexually assaulting a subway passenger, cops have arrested him—thanks to a woman who recognized him from the photo.

The police are asking for people's help is identifying a man who is accused of assaulting a woman during yesterday morning's subway rush hour. According to the NYPD, yesterday at 7:35 a.m., a 33-year-old woman "entered the Subway system at the Broadway Station [in Queens] in the confines of the 114 Pct and entered the 'W' train (Manhattan Bound). As the train approached 39th Street, the victim was sexually abused by the suspect who was sitting next to her. The suspect is described as a M/B/30's, 6'0" tall, wearing a black jacket, black knit hat and blue jeans. The victim took a cellphone photo of the suspect as she exited the train at Queensboro Plaza." You can contact CrimeStoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS, by texting TIP577 to CRIMES, or by going to NYPDCrimeStoppers.com. Last year, anti-groping posters were introduced into the subway system.

The authorities released a sketch of a man who assaulted a 12-year-old girl in a West 15th Street building last week. NY1 says the man, who is described as "well dressed, in his 20s or 30s, about 6 feet tall and 190 pounds with brown hair," followed the girl into the building and "forced her to touch him." And the cops thinks it's the same man who assaulted a 12-year-old in a Tribeca building back in 2007. In the Tribeca incident, the victim's mother allegedly buzzed the man in, because he claimed he was a UPS delivery man; the suspect started talking to the 12-year-old and then he forced her in the elevator and made her touch him. Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-577-TIPS or text TIP577 to CRIMES.

Yikes: The police are investigating whether a visitor sexually abused a 72-year-old patient yesterday afternoon at New York Presbyterian Hospital in Washington Heights. The Daily News reports that a nurse allegedly saw 27-year-old Yakov Kramer "standing over the elderly man's bed." Kramer was arrested last night and a "cloth Kramer allegedly used to clean up the evidence was seized by the NYPD for testing" (a police source said, "He didn't know the victim - it looks like he just wandered into a room and took advantage"). The News called the home of Kramer's father, and a women said, "The whole story is wrong and stupid... He was in the hospital with his wife. She had an appointment. Something is very wrong if someone could be arrested at a hospital." The hospital's spokesperson told WCBS 2, "We cannot confirm any details. But we did receive the report and we are investigating."

The NY Post reports that police are "hunting for a serial rapist who prowls Manhattan's Union Square subway station for young Asian women to follow home and brutally attack." Two women were raped in their building vestibules, while the suspect "has attempted to assault two others since Oct. 1." His M.O: Waiting for women to unlock their apartment building's door and then he "pounces from behind - choking his victims unconscious before" attacking them (following victims into their buildings is a very common M.O.). Chillingly, three of the attacks occurred on one day: October 20. Police, who believe there may be more victims, tell the Post the suspect is 6 feet tall, 170 pounds, and in his late 20s. Contact CrimeStoppers at 800-577-TIPS or text CRIMES (274637) and enter "TIP577".

A 22-year-old Newark man was arrested yesterday for beating and sexually assaulting a 9-month-old infant who died Friday after going into cardiac arrest in what has been ruled a homicide. After an autopsy is released as soon as today, police say charges may be upgraded against Everett Sheppard, the boyfriend of the late infant Victoria Madsen's mother. No charges have been made against the mother, 19-year-old Sheila Troutman, but her other son, a 2-year-old, has been taken into custody by the Division of Youth.

Some creepy details about the Wednesday attack and rape of a Bay Ridge resident: The Post reports the 39-year-old victim spoke to neighbors about the incident. The rapist, who grabbed the woman as she was leaving her apartment for work and dragged her to the basement where he assaulted her, apparently said, "I'm sorry. I'm going through some hard times. I didn't mean to do this. Will you please forgive me?" And he allegedly made the sign of the cross. The Daily News reports that neighbors saw the suspect hanging around the building, "saying hello to residents while he waited for his victim." Police are looking for a white man, between 5'8" and 6' with brown hair in a crew cut.

Police are looking for a rape suspect who attacked a woman in Brooklyn yesterday morning. According to WABC 7, the victim, 29, was on her way to work when she "was surprised by a man near her apartment building along Fort Hamilton Parkway around 8:40 a.m. He struck the victim over the head with a screwdriver and raped her in an alley." A neighbor told WCBS 2, "Basically this morning when I left, the victim, she was on the first floor, and she was really hysterical, and explained that someone attacked her in the basement... A lot of people think Bay Ridge is safe, but you're not safe anywhere you go." A sketch was released of the suspect, who is described as a white man in his 30s or 40s, between 5'8" and 6', 180 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Early yesterday morning, an 18-year-old woman was attacked in the Richmond Hill section of Queens. WABC 7 reports the woman had been walking down a street when an man wielding a gun "took her to the back of a building where she was robbed and sexually assaulted." According to the Daily News, the victim ran back home and "hysterically pointed out her attacker to [her boyfriend] and his friends." The group tried to chase the suspect, but he got into a waiting car. The police do not think this incident is related to the two apparently serial rapists, but there was a recent gunpoint robbery in the neighborhood. The boyfriend said, "If I find out who did it before the police find out, it's not going to be a happy case."

The Girls Gone Wild employee accused of sexually assaulting a woman last week aboard a GGW bus was released; Newsday reports it's "because no indictment was filed within the time limit for a felony charge." Michael O'Sullivan, who did not need to post the $100,000 cash bail, was in Smithtown to film part of the GGW's Wildest Bar video. The Suffolk DA's office said, "After reviewing the facts and circumstances of Mr. O'Sullivan's arrest, the district attorney's office has determined this case warrants further investigation." O'Sullivan had invited a 20-year-old woman onto the bus; while they had "consensually kissed and touched" initially, the woman says O'Sullivan became more forceful and assaulted her.

Early yesterday morning, a woman stopped a police car in Smithtown, Long Island, claiming she was sexually assaulted on a Girls Gone Wild bus. Police ended up arresting the GGW crew supervisor Matthew O'Sullivan and charging him with first degree sexual assault\.

Footage of a man suspected of following a Canadian tourist into a Chelsea apartment building elevator--and later sexually assaulting and robbing her--was released yesterday. The video shows a man following the victim into the Heywood, on Ninth Avenue at West 26th Street, around 4:30 a.m.; the NY Post describes the attacker as a "slim, bald man wearing a white T-shirt and jeans" carrying flowers and pushing a mountain bike. The attacker managed to choke the victim so she passed out and take her clothes off, but he left when he heard noises from the other person living in the apartment. He did take her wedding ring, passport, camera and cell phone, and is seen leaving the building--with flowers and bike--around 4:45 a.m. The building is supposed to have an "attended lobby," but the doorman apparently wasn't around during the attack.

Yesterday, a Canadian tourist, staying at a friend's apartment at The Heywood on Ninth Ave. and West 26th, was followed into the building and attacked around 4 a.m. The Post reports the suspect "followed her into the apartment and choked her into unconsciousness," and the victim "awoke minutes later to find her clothes partially removed, a small amount of cash, jewelry and a cellphone missing." But the attacker was gone; police tell the Daily News they think he may have been scared off by the victim's friend waking up. A resident in a neighboring building said, "There is supposedly 24-hour security but at 1 or 2 in the morning they're not there. They're sleeping downstairs and the door's not locked." The police are reviewing surveillance footage.

A Queens resident was arrested for kidnapping, raping and robbing a woman leaving Lower East Side club The Box last September. The Post reports that Harvey Contento was arrested last week in Midtown (it's unclear how the police tied him to the attack). It's believed Contento pushed the victim into his SUV, drove her across the bridge to Queens, where he raped her; then, after making her withdraw $500 from an ATM, he abandoned her in Forest Hills. There was another similar attack on a woman who had left The Box, but police haven't been able to link Contento to that crime.

Just after 1 a.m., a woman managed to fight off a man who tried to grab her in the Cedar Manor neighborhood. According to WABC 7, the woman "screamed and fought him off before he ran away without harming her." The police have been investigating a series of sexual assaults, at least eight, in southern Queens over the past year. The police say the suspect approaches the victim, with a knife, and forces her into a secluded area. The NYPD is offering a $12,000 for information leading to his arrest and conviction.

This is horrible. A 65-year-old man was arrested for sodomizing a 16-year-old boy yesterday morning on a Bay Ridge Street.

The police are investigating a sex attack reported by a 16-year-old. The girl was grabbed on her way to school, threatened with a box cutter and assaulted behind an abandoned church, and police are investigating the possibility the attacker may be the same as the one in a series of earlier assaults. And WNBC reports there are two more reports of attacks--another in Springfield Gardens and the other in South Ozone Park.

An assistant conductor noticed a man attacking a woman yesterday at the Freeport LIRR station, according to Newsday. Passengers thought they heard a child crying and when assistant conductor Eugene Chino lookd at the end of the platform, he saw the assault, which "occurred on the trackbed between the two tracks alongside the cement housing for the platform staircase." The 3:42 p.m. train from Babylon to Penn Station was stopped and the suspect apprehended.