Teen charged with rape during Mastic Beach burglary, DA says
A 14-year-old boy has been charged with sexually assaulting a woman in her Mastic Beach home during a burglary last month while her 4-year-old daughter was present, authorities said Tuesday.
The defendant has been charged in a nine-count indictment with first-degree rape and other crimes, officials said.
The teen and an accomplice, who is still at large, broke into the home at about 3:15 p.m. on April 19 and assaulted the 23-year-old victim, according to Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney and Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison, who held a news conference in Hauppauge.
Investigators linked the teen — arrested two days after the alleged rape occurred, on April 21 — to the crime with DNA, Tierney said.
“This is a case that is both shocking and extremely disturbing, given both the age of the defendant at the time of the offense as well as the nature of the underlying facts,” Tierney said.
The boy appeared at an arraignment in Suffolk County Youth Court on Tuesday, Tierney said. Judge Karen Kerr ordered him held without bail. Officials have withheld his name because he is a juvenile. He is scheduled to return to court on June 2.
Harrison said police were able to identify and arrest the defendant quickly because the Suffolk Detective Squad and Crime Stoppers received numerous tips from the public after circulating video taken near the scene.
“We provided enough manpower to investigate this crime, making sure we were able to recover all the evidence … cultivate witnesses …[and] collect video of our possible suspects,” Harrison said.
Tierney said the defendant and his accomplice broke into the Mastic Beach home through a kitchen window. They searched the home looking for items to steal, kicking in a locked bedroom door, where they found the victim and her daughter.
The defendant, armed with a knife, demanded cash, according to Tierney. When the accomplice left the bedroom to continue the search for items to steal, the defendant raped and strangled the victim, in front of her daughter, officials said.
The victim struggled and the boy forced the woman to the hallway, where he continued to sexually assault her. The teen dragged her back into the bedroom and attempted to pull her 4-year-old out of the room, Tierney said. The victim struggled with the boy before stopping him from leaving with the girl. He then took the victim to another bedroom, authorities said.
The boy showed the woman a switchblade, then slashed it across her head and forehead. He then stabbed her in the upper-left section of her chest, officials said.
The defendant and his accomplice fled after stealing some items from the home, officials said. The victim received staples and stitches at Long Island Community Hospital.
“Two days later, on April 21, the defendant was arrested on unrelated charges,” Tierney said. “He was interviewed in the presence of an adult family member and while he admitted to the burglary, he denied having anything to do with the sexual assault charges.”
Tierney declined to comment when asked about the nature of the unrelated charges or how the boy was arrested by police.
The defendant permitted Suffolk police to take a sample of his DNA with a buccal swab. The Suffolk County Crime Laboratory matched the boy’s DNA to evidence taken by a swab of the victim.
An indictment unsealed on April 27 charged the boy with first-degree rape, first-degree criminal sexual act, two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of first-degree burglary, one count of first-degree sexual abuse, one count of second-degree strangulation and endangering the welfare of a child. If convicted, he would only serve up to 10 years in prison because he is a juvenile.
