Man Wanted For Raping And Burning Woman In Kissena Park

Wu Lin, 35, is wanted for allegedly raping a 31-year-old woman in Kissena Park on Wednesday night around 10 pm.  according to the police.  (Photo: NYPD)

Queens

Police are hunting for a man accused of raping a woman inside his car in Flushing before burning her hair and clothes before she fled. 

Wu Lin, 35, allegedly sexually assaulted a 31-year-old woman about 10 p.m. on Dec. 4, the NYPD said. The incident took place in Kissena Park at 165-14 Booth Memorial Avenue, police said.

Lin and the victim knew each other, police said.

Lin was described by police as Asian with black hair and brown eyes. He is 5-foot-7, weighing roughly 140 pounds.

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-8477.

Read More:

Man accused of raping and burning woman in Flushing
Queens Courier - By Melissa Chan -  December 6th, 2013

Police Searching For Flushing, Queens Rape Suspect 
WCBS -  December 6, 2013

Police Make Arrest In Central Park Rape Case

Last night police arrested Omar Hoist, 32 in connection with the rape and strangulation of a 28-year-old Russian woman on Sunday night in Central Park. Hoist - from Tiebout Avenue in the Bronx - has 16 prior arrests including for forceable touching and drug possession according to the police. Hoist was seen on surveillance video walking with the victim along 5th Avenue.  (Photo credit: NYPD)

Hoist was identified as being at Metropolitan Hospital across from where the incident occured.   Members of the Special Victims Squad responded and took him into custody.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said today they were looking into whether or not he was wanted in other attacks.

Kelly said said this afternoon that the suspect was put in front of a line up and that process he believed was on going involving some other incidents.

"What happens is you look at indicators, to descriptions to see if this person was involved and that process is on going," Commissioner Kelly said.

- Geoffrey Croft

Manhattan

Police have arrested a homeless man in connection with a rape in Central Park.  

Omar Hoist, 32, was arrested inside Metropolitan Hospital on Tuesday after receiving a tip. 

He is charged with rape, strangulation and assault.  

Around 3:30 a.m. Sunday, police said a woman was walking on East 88 Street near 5th Avenue when she was approached by the suspect, who began talking to her as they walked toward Central Park.

Police investigate the scene early Sunday morning in Central Park near 100th street between Fifth Avenue and the East Drive.  According to the police, Hoist approached the victim at East 88th Street and Fifth Avenue about 3 a.m. and the two began talking. They entered the park at East 100th Street and later became violent and dragged the victim to a grassy area and raped her. (Photo: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) 

The two entered the park near 100 Street, walked along a bike path and then sat on a bench, police said.

That’s when police said Hoist turned violent, dragging the woman into a grassy area and raping her.  She managed to get away and ran to Mt. Sinai Hospital. Police said the suspect told the victim his name was Omar.  

The man was seen on surveillance video walking with the victim before the attack and then again alone after the attack, police said.

Read More:

Police Arrest Homeless Man In Central Park Rape Case, Omar Hoist Charged

With Rape,  Strangulation,  Assault

WCBS  - November 20,  2013

Arrest made in Central Park rape case

WPIX - November 20,  2013 -  By Sukanya Krishnan

Woman Reports Being Raped In Central Park This Morning

A Walk In The Park - November 18, 2013 - By Geoffrey Croft

(Update) Woman Reports Being Raped In Central Park This Morning

UPDATE





























Police investigate an alleged rape early this morning in Central Park near 100th street between Fifth Avenue and the East Drive. (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) click on images to enlarge.


Manhattan

By Geoffrey Croft

A woman reported being raped in Central Park early this morning. 

The alleged incident happened around 4:30 a.m. near 100th Street between Fifth Avenue and the East Drive.

A large hilly area was cordoned off for most for the day as crime scene personnel gathered evidence. 

Evidence marker  # 1  could be seen on the ground near a park bench.

Police have so far refused to release any information except to say that no arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing. 

The woman told police that a man approached her, pulled her off the path and raped her in a wooded area in the northeast corner of the park, according to the New York Post. 

Update - Police tell gothamist that the woman initially walked into the park with her alleged attacker early this morning—she wasn't jumped or dragged into the park. They also say the incident was reported closer to 3:30 a.m.

We will update as we learn more information.

Read More:

[Update] Woman Allegedly Raped In Central Park This Morning

gothamist - November, 2013 - By Ben Yakas 

Central Park: David Mitchell Sentenced To 30 Years For Raping 73-Year-Old Birdwatcher - Called Sexual Terrorist

"Attacks on vulnerable victims in public places terrify all New Yorkers, who have the right to feel safe in our city’s parks.”  -  District Attorney Cy Vance

The victim, a 74-year-old birdwatcher, called David Albert Mitchell, 43, a “sexual terrorist” as he was sentenced today to 30 years in prison.

Manhattan

A New York City woman had harsh words Wednesday for the rapist who victimized her while she was watching birds in Central Park, according to the Associated Press/WCBS.

The woman, 74, called David Albert Mitchell, 43, a “S” as he was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison.

She described the Sept 12, 2012 attack and injuries that included a damaged jaw. She told Mitchell, “May you rot in hell for all eternity.”

Mitchell, who hails from West Virginia and has a long criminal record, pleaded guilty on Oct. 1 to raping and robbing the woman last year.

According to his guilty plea, Mitchell approached the woman in Central Park, grabbed her from behind and forcefully hit her head on the ground. After assaulting and raping the woman, Mitchell fled with her camera bag.

David Mitchell being lead away in shackles after being apprehended by the police. Mitchell, 43, pleaded guilty to raping an elderly birdwatcher in Central Park near Strawberry Fields on September 12th in 2012.  He was arrested shortly after in connection with the sexual assault and the groping of two others in Central Park.  A grand jury charged him with rape, robbery, assault, weapon possession, forcible touching, and other charges.   Mitchell will be back in court on October 16th for sentencing.  (Photo: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates)

The victim immediately reported the attack and her injuries to the police.

According to the Mitchell’s guilty plea, three weeks earlier on Aug. 20, 2012, Mitchell argued with a man in Central Park and pulled a knife on him. He was not injured.

The sentence includes being charged with but not convicted of sexually assaulting two women over age 70. He also went to prison in the abduction of an ex-girlfriend.

“This lengthy prison sentence ensures that David Mitchell, a sexual predator, will spend decades in prison and off our streets,” said District Attorney Cy Vance.

 “Attacks on vulnerable victims in public places terrify all New Yorkers, who have the right to feel safe in our city’s parks.”

The crime scene  in Central Park near Strawberry Fields on September 12, 2012.  (Photo: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates)

As she faced the ex-convict who raped her in Central Park, a 74-year-old woman condemned him Wednesday with composed anger, calling him a "sexual terrorist" and an "evil infestation," according to the Associated Press. 

"You, David Albert Mitchell, for the pain you inflicted on me and, by association, my loving family and friends, may you rot in hell for all eternity," she said during his sentencing to 30 years in prison for attacking her as she watched birds in September 2012 — a week after authorities say he noticed her using a camera to document his lewd behavior.

Mitchell, who had previously been charged with sexually attacking other women over age 70, pleaded guilty this month to rape and robbery. His sentenced was settled then.

While the plea deal prevents her from having to testify about her ordeal at a trial, she made plain Wednesday that she wanted Mitchell to hear about it from her before the case was closed.

"Make no mistake: This is a sexual terrorist," the woman said, urging a judge "to do the right thing so that nobody else is every hurt or menaced by this evil infestation."

While the woman, 73 at the time, pursued her favorite pastime, Mitchell pounced on her from behind, slammed her to the ground and threatened to cut her throat when she screamed, scratched at him and tried to poke his eyes out, she said.

"I stopped fighting. I figured I was a goner," she recalled.

Mitchell raped her twice, told her to stay prone and count to 100 while he left with her camera bag, and admonished her to stay put when she looked up early, she said. The attack left her with injuries including a broken finger, a smashed tooth and a damaged jaw.

Roughly a week before, the birdwatcher had photographed Mitchell in a lewd moment, and he had confronted her, the Manhattan district attorney's office said.

Mitchell and his attorneys declined to speak at his sentencing, where he showed little reaction as his victim spoke.

The Associated Press generally does not identify sexual assault victims unless they come forward publicly.

Mitchell comes from tiny Jenkinjones, W.Va., where he was charged at age 18 with raping and killing an 86-year-old woman. Acquitted in that case, he was then charged with raping a woman in her 70s; the sexual assault charge was dropped as Mitchell pleaded guilty to other charges, his attorney at the time has said.

Later, Mitchell was suspected but never charged in the death of a 54-year-old woman. He served prison time in other cases, including the abduction of his ex-girlfriend. When he was released in 2011, some Jenkinjones residents bought guns to protect themselves from him.

His New York arrest, plus a convicted sex offender's arrest in a rape in another Manhattan park about two weeks later, led local officials to call for tougher penalties for sex offenders.

Read More:

74-year-old NYC woman to her rapist: 'Rot in hell' 
Associated Press - October 16, 2013 - By Jennifer Peltz  

Man Sentenced To 30 Years For Raping 73-Year-Old Woman In Central Park 

David Mitchell Pleads Guilty To Raping Birdwatcher In Park Last September

WCBS -  October 16, 2013

Central Park - Man Pleads Guilty To Raping Elderly A 73-Year-Old Birdwatcher

A Walk In the Park - October 3,  2013

David Mitchell - Alleged Rapist Of 73-Year-Old Central Park
Bird Watcher - Pleads Not Guilty
A Walk In The Park - October 9, 2012

Central Park Rape Suspect Apprehended By Police

A Walk In The Park - September 13, 2012 

73-Year-Old Raped & Mugged In Central Park

A Walk In The Park - September 12, 2012

Hudson River Park Rapist Jonathan Stewart Sentenced to 35 years

Hudson River Park rapist Jonathan Stewart after his arrest in September 2012. The 26-year-old was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Monday.   (Photo: Paul Martinka)

After the 21-year-old rape victim bravely fought him off in Hudson River Park on Spetember 22, 2012, she fled naked toward two Park Enforcement Patrol officers and screamed, “I’ve just been raped! I’ve just been raped!” sources said. 

In her court statement, she thanked the officers who helped her on that horrific morning,  “Because of you, I feel peace at night knowing he is not roaming around the streets assaulting more women or coming after me,” she wrote.  

Manhattan



‘WE CORNERED HIM’: Parks Officers Daniel Murphy (above left) and Luis Cabezas wait at a station house after helping nab accused Hudson River Park rapist Jonathan Stewart last year. (Photo: William Farrington)

The aspiring actress who was repeatedly raped by a vicious sex fiend in Hudson River Park last year said the gruesome memories were still too fresh to face her attacker at his sentencing Monday in Manhattan.

But she was there in spirit when prosecutors read her anguished statement as rapist Jonathan Stewart, 26, stared blankly ahead, showing no remorse for the heinous crime, according to the New York Post. 

“No one deserves to be put through what I was put through,” she wrote in the heart-wrenching letter read in Manhattan Supreme Court. “It’s hard to grasp how someone can be so selfish and disgusting. Jonathan, you know what you did and to the extent you did it. You deserve much more than what you are being put away for.”

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Renee White sentenced Stewart to 35 years, plus 20 years of post-release supervision, for the brutal assault.

Stewart chatted up the 21-year-old beauty as she sat in Hudson River Park near Harrison Street to watch the sunrise on Sept. 22, 2012. He then yanked her off a bench and dragged her in a choke hold to a cluster of nearby bushes where he strangled and punched her before raping her twice.

After the woman bravely fought him off, she fled naked toward two Parks Department cops and screamed, “I’ve just been raped! I’ve just been raped!” sources said.

In her court statement, she also thanked the officers who helped her on that horrific morning. “Because of you, I feel peace at night knowing he is not roaming around the streets assaulting more women or coming after me,” she wrote.

As the letter was read, the victim’s mother sobbed in the gallery. “And although today is a good day for me, it is very very hard,” said the 21-year-old who is still haunted by the terrifying ordeal. “I couldn’t come today. It is too fresh.”

Stewart was already a top-level sex offender before the savage assault and spent seven years in state prison on sex abuse and robbery convictions.

Read More:

Sicko gets 35 years for woman’s rape

New York Post - September 30, 2013 - By Rebecca Rosenberg

Hudson River Park Rape Victim Thanks PEP Officers

A Walk In The Park - September 24, 2012 - By Geoffrey Croft  

21-Year-Old Raped And Strangled In Hudson River Park - 4th Park Rape In Three Weeks

A Walk In The Park - September 23, 2012 - By Geoffrey Croft  

Attempted Rape In Central Park - Second in Four Days

Police released an image from surveillance footage  this evening of a Hispanic man wanted in the attempted rape of a 30-year-old actress early Tuesday morning near West 64th Street and West Drive in Central Park.   The woman was also robbed by the assailant. 

This was the second attempted rape in Central Park in four days. 

Manhattan

Around 2:40 a.m. Tuesday, the victim – a 30-year-old woman — was walking near West 64th Street and West Drive in the park, police said, according to CBS news. 

The suspect came up and tried to rape the woman before fleeing, police said. There were no injuries reported.

A surveillance image showed a shirtless man crossing a street. No detailed description of the suspect was released.

Anyone with information on the attack was asked to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS, log onto the Crime Stoppers Web site, or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) and enter TIP577.

Read More:

Police Search For Attempted Rape Suspect Who Struck In Central Park

CBS - July 2, 2013 

Broadway actress attacked, nearly raped in Central Park
New York Daily News - July 3, 2013 - By Joe Kemp , Mark Morales & Shane Dixon Kavanaugh  

Police Arrest Man In Attempted Rape In Cental Park

This walkway by the Lasker Pool on East Drive near 106th Street in Central Park in New York City is where an attempted rape took place Friday.  Saul Alvarez attacked a 29-year-old female jogger from behind by Lasker Pool police say. A passerby heard the cry and called 911 as he tended to the frantic woman, sources said. The jogger was taken to a local hospital, where she was treated for trauma and a cut to the right side of her face.  (Photo: Christie M Farriella for New York Daily News)  

A 18-year-old woman was raped on Thurdsay in Crotona Park In the Bronx.  

Manhattan

A 21-year-old man was arrested after he tried to rape a jogger in Central Park, cops said Saturday, according to the New York Daily News.  

Saul Alvarez attacked the 29-year-old woman from behind as she was jogging by Lasker Pool near the park’s East Drive at E. 106th St. at about 10:45 p.m. Friday, police said.  

Alvarez cupped his hand around the woman’s mouth as he tried to drag her off the path — but the woman managed to break free and yelled for help, sources said. 

A passerby heard the cry and called 911 as he tended to the frantic woman, sources said. The woman gave a description of the attacker to cops, who found Alvarez nearby a short time later, sources said.  

The jogger was taken to a local hospital, where she was treated for trauma and a cut to the right side of her face. 

Alvarez was to be arraigned Saturday on charges that included attempted rape. 

Locals said they usually avoided the park when the sun goes down. 

“I would never come in the park after dark, especially if I’m by myself,” said Veronica Arndorfer. “I would rather go around the park at night than walk through it."

Read More:

Man arrested after attempted rape of jogger in NYC’s Central Park

New York Daily News -  June 29, 2013 -   By Alfred Ng and Joe Kemp 

Teen Raped In Crotona Park

Bronx

By Geoffrey Croft

Police are investigating the rape of an 18-year-old black woman in Crotona Park early Thursday morning.

Investigators say the attack happened as the woman was walking through the park at around 4:45 a.m.

Police sources say a man approached the woman,  grabbed her hair, punched her in the face, threw her down on the ground and raped her.

The victim transported herself to the hospital.

The suspect  is described a Hispanic male, age 25-30,  approximately 5'9 not fit.  He was wearing a dark shirt, jeans and work boots.

The incident occurred inside the park not far from Fulton Ave. and Crotona Park North.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS. 

Read/View More:

Woman attacked, sexually assaulted in Bronx Park

Eyewitness News - June 27, 2013 - By Tim Fleischer

Police investigate sexual assault in Crotona Park

Eyewitness News - June 27, 2013 - By Tim Fleischer

Police: Bronx teen raped in Crotona Park

News 12 -  June 27, 2013 

DNA Match Leads To Arrest Of Damien Hollis for 2012 Lincoln Terrace Park Gunpoint Rape

Police have charged Damien Hollis, 21, in the gunpoint rape of a 26-year-old woman  in Lincoln Terrace Park in Brooklyn on May 29, 2012.

Brooklyn

The Canarsie man accused of raping a 26-year-old woman at gunpoint in Lincoln Terrace Park last year was arrested Thursday night, just one day after cops named him as a suspect, according to DNAinfo.

Damien Hollis, 21, was charged with rape, criminal sexual act, robbery, sexual abuse and criminal impersonation of a police officer in connection with the May 29, 2012, attack, the NYPD said.


Suspected Brooklyn Rapist (Credit: NYPD)

A DNA match helped lead cops to Hollis, a police source said, who added that he did not know the way in which Hollis had impersonated a cop.

Hollis, who lives about three miles from Lincoln Terrace Park, allegedly approached his victim about 3 a.m., police said. Spotting her at a bus stop at East New York and Ralph avenues, he flashed a firearm and forced her to walk about a block from the bus stop to the park. After the alleged attack, he then took woman's cell phone and fled.

The woman was treated at Woodhull Medical Center.

Read More:

DNA Match Leads to Arrest in 2012 Lincoln Terrace Park Rape

DNAinfo -  May 10, 2013 - By Alan Neuhauser and Aidan Gardiner 

Woman Raped In Lincoln Terrace Park At Gunpoint
A Walk In The Park - June 2, 2012 

Police Release Sketch Of Forest Park Taser Attacker - Joggers On High Alert

Police released a sketch of suspect wanted in the tazer attack of a woman jogging on a horse foot path inside Forest Park on Friday night.  The assailant is described as a while male 35-40 years old, 5'9", medium build, last seen wearing a gold hoop earring, navy blue hooded sweatshirt, navy blue track pants with reddish/brown hair and facial hair.  The woman was running through Forest Park in Queens about 7:30 p.m. on Friday when the assailant came up from behind and shoved a stun gun into her neck, police said.   (Image: DCPI ) 

The New York City Police Department is seeking the public's assistance in locating the following suspect who is wanted in connection with an Sexual Assault that occurred within the confines of the 102nd Precinct.  The details are as follows:

On Friday, March 29th, 2013 at approximately 1925 hours, the victim, a F/W/23, was jogging inside of Forest Hills Park when the suspect approached the victim from behind, struck her with a stun gun and sexually assaulted her.  The victim was taken to an area hospital for injuries sustained to her neck.

The suspect is described as being a M/W, 35-40 years old, 5'9",  medium build, last seen wearing a gold hoop earring, navy blue hooded sweatshirt, navy blue track pants with reddish/brown hair and facial hair.

A sketch of the suspect is attached.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).  The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

All calls are strictly confidential.

Queens

Terrified Queens joggers peered over their shoulders Saturday after a taser-toting pervert zapped a 23-year-old runner in a foiled rape attempt, according to the NY Daily News. 

The woman was running through Forest Hills Park in Queens about 7:30 p.m. on Friday when the assailant came up from behind and shoved a stun gun into her neck, police said. 

The would-be rapist then dragged the dazed victim into the bushes near the park’s horse trails, fleeing only after she fought him off, police said.

“I hope they catch that pervert,” said Emily Sutton, 27, who often runs along the same path. 

“I never run at night. Too many weirdos.”

Police investigate area near horse trails in Queens’ Forest Park on Saturday after stun-gun attack on female jogger. She was able to fight him off. (Photo by Joe Marino/Daily News)

Sutton, a catering business manager, said she always carries protection in the park.

 “If he would have tried that on me, I would have Maced him in the face,” she said.  

Cops said the attacker fled the scene and remained at large Saturday. 

Katelyn Levin, 32, a medical student who lives near the sprawling park, was jogging on the same trails Saturday when she learned there was a rapist still roaming around. “That’s really scary,” she said after jogging on the stretch near the Jackie Robinson Parkway. “I’m horrified by the thought that there is a predator on the loose with a stun gun.”

Levin complained that the park could use more police protection — and suggested she might don more than just sneakers before her next run.

“I hate guns,” she said. “But seriously, it’s getting to the point where women in New York need to carry weapons to protect themselves.”

Read More:

Police Seek Suspect In Queens Park Taser Attack

CBS News - March 31, 2013

Police Searching For Suspect Who Tasered Queens Jogger During Attempted Rape

gothamist - March 31, 2013 - By Ben Yakas  

Man Tasers Woman, Attempts to Sexually Assault Her in Queens Park: Police

WNBC -  March 31, 2013  

Queens joggers on high alert after stun gun zap attack at Forest Hills Park

New York Daily News - March 30, 2013 - By Matthew Lysiak, Joe Kemp, & Larry McShane

Female Jogger Tasered, Sexually Attacked, & Robbed In Forest Park
A Walk In The Park -  March 30, 2013 - Bt Geoffrey Croft

    

Female Jogger Tasered, Sexually Attacked, & Robbed In Forest Park

The horse trail in Forest Park where a 23-year-old jogger was attacked from behind and tasered in the neck last night. The assailant dragged the woman into the bushes and tried to take off the woman's shirt. The victim bravely fought back. (Photo: Sam Costanza)

Queens

By Geoffrey Croft

Police are investigating the attempted rape of a jogger in Forest Park last night NYC Park Advocates has learned. 

The 23-year-old victim was attacked from behind with a Taser gun and robbed of her I-Phone.  The man then attempted to rape her.

The woman was tasered in the neck.  The assailant tried to rip her clothes off but the woman fought back 

The horrifying incident occurred last night at approximately 7:30pm on the horse trail in Forest Park.

EMS transported the victim to a local hospital where she was treated and later released.

Police are looking for a white male in 30's who escaped on foot. 

Read/View More:

Stun gun used in sex assault on female jogger

WABC - March 30, 2013

Police search for man who attempted to sexually assault jogger in Queens park

WPIX - By Kaity Tong - March 30, 2013  

23-Year-Old Female Jogger Tasered During Attempted Sexual Assault

gothamist - March 30,  2013 - By Ben Yakas  

Woman foils stun-gun sex fiend in Queens 

New York Post - March 30, 2013 - By Rebecca Harshbarger 

Stun Gun Used in Sex Attack Try

New York Daily News - March 30, 2013 - By Thomas Tracy

Woman Raped In Lincoln Terrace Park At Gunpoint

Suspected Brooklyn Rapist (Credit: NYPD)

Brooklyn

The NYPD is looking for a man wanted for rape in Brooklyn.

On Tuesday, May 29, at just after 3:00 a.m., a 26-year-old woman was approached by the suspect at a bus stop near East New York Avenue and Ralph Avenue, police said. The man told her that he had a gun and then forced her inside of Lincoln Terrace Park, where he proceeded to sexually assault her while displaying a gun, officials said, according to CBS News. 

The man managed to get away and the victim was taken to Woodhull Hospital, where she remained in stable condition, the NYPD confirmed.

The suspect is described by police as a black male in his early 20′s, standing six-foot-0 and weighing 150 pounds. He was least seen wearing a grey-hooded sweatshirt, red, black and white sneakers and blue jeans.

If anyone has any information regarding the suspect they are encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS (8477), or log on to the Crime Stoppers’ website here.

Read More:

Police: Man Sexually Assaulted Woman In Lincoln Terrace Park With Gun In Hand

CBS News - June 2, 2012 

Man Convicted Of Raping Russian Tourist In Riverside Park

Hugues-Denver Akassy, faces up to 25 years in prison for the rape of a Russian tourist in Riverside Park last year. In addition to the Russian tourist, Mr. Akassy, 43, was charged with victimizing four other women. He was convicted on charges in three of those cases, but found not guilty in the fourth. Sentencing set for November 17th. (Photo: Manhattan District Attorney’s office)

Manhattan

An Ivory Coast native accused of holding himself out as a seasoned and suave French-language TV journalist to smooth-talk women was convicted Monday of raping one and harassing three others, but he was acquitted of sexually attacking a fifth, according to the Associated Press.

Hugues-Denver Akassy showed no reaction on hearing the verdict in a trial in which he'd testified over three days, telling jurors the sexual encounters were consensual and the other allegation resulted from misunderstandings. He faces at least five and as many as 25 years in prison at his sentencing, set for Nov. 17.

Defense lawyer Glenn Hardy said Akassy took the result "pretty stoically" and planned to appeal.

Prosecutors said Akassy, 43, charmed the women with a debonair demeanor and a bogus persona, then became a sexually aggressive stalker. They said Akassy, who was homeless, claimed to be buying a brownstone and held himself out as an accomplished journalist on a website rife with plagiarized praise written about real journalists.

"What we're talking about here is a person who initiates every relationship in his life with a falsehood," Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Jessica Troy told jurors in a closing argument last week. "And I submit to you, there is no reason to think he is honest about anything."

Four women testified; the one who said she was raped, a Russian tourist who has returned to her homeland, did not. Those who testified said Akassy struck up conversations with them on the street and other public places around the city. Some said they then met him for wine-and-cheese picnics in parks and other dates before he became threatening with unwanted advances.

When things soured, he often wrote the women profane and vitriolic emails, which jurors saw during the trial. In some cases, Akassy showed up outside the women's apartment buildings or at their workplaces, they and prosecutors said.

Akassy "refused to take no for an answer," District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said in a statement.

Akassy testified that the women willingly engaged in the sexual encounters — on a subway grate in a park, in a stairwell of an apartment building. Overall, he and his lawyer said, the accusations were leveled by troubled women who misconstrued and overreacted to his overtures.

"Misinterpretation seems to be a theme that runs through these cases," Hardy told jurors in his summation.

Akassy said he didn't write the now-gone website.

Jurors said they'd focused on the charges, not the question of whether he was faking his professional background, and came away unpersuaded by his alternately elaborate and evasive account of the encounters.

"It was phony," said juror Bob Gorsline, a retired bank information-technology executive.

Still, he and some others said they'd had doubts about the fifth woman's allegation that Akassy forced her to perform oral sex in a stairwell after she agreed to let him see her building's roof deck but rebuffed his request to go to her apartment. Jurors acquitted him of committing a criminal sex act in that encounter.

"We just felt that there were pieces to it, from both sides, that were not coming forward," said juror Lajon S. Daniels, an HIV prevention coordinator for a nonprofit organization.

Hardy, the defense attorney, called that acquittal "a significant win on our part," noting that the sex act charge was as serious as the rape charge of which Akassy was convicted. Akassy also was acquitted of lower-level felony sex-abuse charges related to the rape allegation.

His other convictions, on stalking and harassment charges, are misdemeanors.

Read More:

Man guilty of raping 1 woman, harassing 3 in NYC

The Associated Press - November 7, 2011 - By Jennifer Peltz

Man Is Convicted in the Rape and Harassment of Women

New York Times - November 7, 2011 - By John Eligon

Riverside Park Rape Suspect Indicted

A Walk In The Park - August 11, 2010