Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Andres Portilla was arraigned today on an indictment charging him with kidnapping and sexually assaulting three young women whom he kept captive in his car.

District Attorney Katz said: “The brutality inflicted upon these vulnerable young women is unspeakable. This indictment is the first step toward providing some measure of justice to the victims and their families.”

Portilla, 28, of 85^th Street in East Elmhurst, was arraigned on a 56-count indictment charging him with kidnapping in the first and second degree; predatory sexual assault; assault in the first and second degree; criminal sexual act in the first, second and third degree; rape in the first, second and third degree; sexual abuse in the first degree; criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree; and endangering the welfare of a child.

Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant ordered Portilla to return to court on April 11. If convicted, he faces consecutive 25-years-to-life in prison sentences.

According to the charges:

• In September 2022, Portilla invited one of his victims, a minor, to an apartment in Queens, where he held her captive and perpetrated both sexual and physical assaults upon her resulting in permanent injuries.
• After vacating the apartment, Portilla held the girl captive in his car and continued to perpetrate sexual and physical assaults against her, often using a dangerous instrument. While restraining the first victim inside his car, Portilla lured a second victim, also a minor, into the car, where he sexually assaulted her while threatening the use of a dangerous instrument.
• Portilla lured a third victim into his car under the guise of allowing her to use a phone charger. Portilla held her captive for days while sexually and physically assaulting her before threatening and releasing her. The victim made a report to the police and underwent treatment at a local hospital.

After an intensive investigation, police were able to identify both the defendant and the car he was driving. A manhunt and vehicle chase ensued. Portilla was apprehended and taken into custody hours later.

Assistant District Attorney Sean Jaime of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Eric C. Rosenbaum, Bureau Chief, Debra Lynn Pomodore, Senior Deputy Bureau Chief, and Brian Hughes, Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Special Prosecutions Joyce A. Smith.