FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2005

D.A. BROWN: BROOKLYN MAN CHARGED WITH KIDNAPPING AND VIOLENT SEXUAL ATTACK OF 13-YEAR-OLD WOODSIDE GIRL
Faces Up To 25 Years In Prison

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown today announced that a Brooklyn man has been charged with the violent rape, sodomy and robbery of a 13-year-old girl on her way home from school earlier this week.

District Attorney Brown said, “What happened to this child is every child’s and every parent’s nightmare. A simple walk home from school turned into a terrorizing ordeal as the child was brutally victimized and robbed, causing her physical and emotional trauma from which she may never recover. The alleged attacker’s capture after only a two-day manhunt removes from society an extremely dangerous individual. We will vigorously prosecute the defendant for these heinous crimes seeking the maximum penalty available.”

The District Attorney identified the defendant as Jofre Bautista, 33, of 105 Starr Street in Brooklyn, who is employed by a Long Island City awning company. He is being held pending arraignment later today in Criminal Court in Kew Gardens on charges of Rape in the First and Second Degrees, Kidnapping in the Second Degree, Criminal Sexual Acts in the First and Second Degrees, Assault in the Second Degree and Robbery in the First Degree. If convicted he faces up to 25 years in prison.

According to District Attorney Brown, at approximately 3:40 p.m. on October 18, 2005, opposite 70-44 48th Avenue in Woodside, the defendant allegedly called out to the 13-year-old schoolgirl from his green mini-van and asked her for directions to Queens Boulevard. When the child continued walking, the defendant is accused of exiting his van, punching her in the face and pulling her into his van. He then allegedly pulled a knife and told the child to do as he said and not to scream or he would kill her. The defendant then allegedly raped, beat and sodomized the child before robbing her of her cell phone and dropping her off.

District Attorney Brown said, “I want to thank the men and women of the NYPD’s Special Victim's Squad and the Assistant District Attorneys who worked with them around the clock for their tireless and quick work in apprehending the defendant, bringing a sense of safety back to this neighborhood.”

Assistant District Attorney Frank P. DeGaetano of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau, is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Marjory D. Fisher, Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Charles A. Testagrossa and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney Daniel A. Saunders.

It should be noted that criminal charges are merely accusations and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.