Cops: Woman in home invasion sexually assaulted

Nassau County police are looking for three men who invaded a Hempstead home Sunday, sexually assaulting a woman visitor and robbing the occupants, Third Squad detectives said.

Police said the incident occurred when a 22-year-old man visiting his godmother at a Grove Street home answered a knock on the door at about 11 p.m. and three masked men, including one with a revolver and two with knives, forced themselves into the house.

The men, who were wearing gloves, went immediately to the second floor, forcing two women, one 44, the other 47, onto the ground, police said.

Det. Lt. Raymond Cote said police now believe they were looking for a man who had spent time in the home recently, as well and money and drugs.

They ransacked the apartment and tied up the occupants, Cote said at the news conference. One woman suffered a seizure while she was being tied up, and they left her unbound, he said.

When they did not find what they were looking for, they took a small amount of cash and some cellphones, Cote said. Cote would not say whether there were any drugs in the home. He said the home was "not a location under active investigation," for drug activity.

Frustrated that they had not found what they were looking for, two of the men "decided to take it out," on one of the women in the house, Cote said.

They brought the 44-year-old woman, who was not a resident of the house, into a bathroom and sexually assaulted her, Cote said.

The 47 year-old woman, who was the sister of the woman who was assaulted, escaped out a side window, falling to the ground and hurting herself, Cote said. She fled to a neighbor's house and called police, Cote said.

The gunman then took the 22-year-old man to an apartment in the house, kicked down the door and robbed its residents, two 50-year-old women, of cellphones and cash, police said.

Shortly after, another visitor, a woman, 49, arrived at the home and also was robbed of her cellphone and cash.

When the assailants realized one of the victims had escaped, they drove off in a black, four-door vehicle, Cote said.

Three women who were in the house at the time were taken to an area hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries, Cote said. .

Cote said police are in the process of looking for surveillance videos from neighboring homes and businesses, as well as forensic evidence.

Anyone with information on the incident can call Crime Stoppers at 800-244-8477. All calls will be kept confidential.