The police have arrested a convicted rapist for robbing and sexually assaulting a City College student in her Hamilton Heights apartment on Thursday afternoon. Lawrence Elliot, 47, who is a registered sex offender, had been taken in for questioning yesterday, and neighbors are relieved, telling WCBS 2, "I think it’s great. I think it’s a great thing the police department did their job and made an arrest so quickly."
According to police, a 21-year-old woman was followed into her apartment building near St. Nicholas Park at 1:30 p.m.: "The victim was checking her mail when Elliot approached her and told her he had a gun before pushing her into her apartment, police said. He forced the woman to perform a sex act before robbing her of belongings, including her debit card, cops said." One neighbor told WCBS 2, "Rapist walking around, there are criminals - you’ve got to be careful how you get in by yourself,” while another worried, "Of course, it’s very disconcerting to hear that, what happened here - in broad daylight!"
The victim's ATM card was used at a nearby bodega, and the store's surveillance footage showed a man taking cash. Elliot was previously convicted in 1993 of raping an 18-year-old girl in Syracuse, N.Y.
Police in downtown Manhattan are looking for a suspect who raped a woman in her Thompson Street apartment; surveillance video footage showed the suspect at a Duane Reade.
