Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Rony Lopez Alvarez, 39, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to rape in the first degree. The defendant attacked a woman, dragged her into a dark alley and raped her in 2020. The defendant fled the state but was caught in Georgia and brought back to Queens to face justice.

District Attorney Katz said, “We will not relent in our efforts to bring justice on behalf of victims. For more than a year, we continued our investigation in search of the defendant – who fled the state but was extradited to face charges and pleaded guilty to this heinous crime last month. The trauma cannot be undone, but I sincerely hope that the victim takes some solace knowing her attacker has been sentenced to prison for his actions.”

Lopez Alvarez, of Forest Park, Georgia, pleaded guilty earlier last month to rape in the first degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant. This morning Justice Pandit-Durant sentenced the defendant to 10 years in prison, to be followed by five years’ post release supervision. Lopez Alvarez will also be required to register as a sex offender.

DA Katz said, according to Court records, on January 18, 2020, at approximately 4 a.m., the defendant grabbed a 27-year-old woman as she walked on Jamaica Avenue. Lopez Alvarez put his hand over the victim’s mouth, wrapped an arm around her waist and pressed a sharp object against her body. He then forced her into an alley and told her he would “snap her neck” if she screamed for help.

Continuing, the DA said, the defendant pulled the victim toward the back of the dark alley where he removed some of her clothes and raped her. Afterward the defendant fled the area. The woman was able to walk out of the alley and flag down a passerby who called 911 for her.

The victim was taken to an area hospital, said the DA, where she was treated and a rape kit was used to collect DNA evidence. A DNA profile was developed from the DNA evidence found in the rape kit and after an investigation was conducted, a DNA match was discovered. The defendant was located in Forest Park, Georgia, and transported back to Queens.

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Regan of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Eric C. Rosenbaum, Bureau Chief, Debra Lynn Pomodore and Brian Hughes, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.