Police: Woman raped in Patchogue by man pretending to be taxi driver

A Central Islip man has been arrested after he posed as a taxi driver and raped a woman in Patchogue early Saturday, Suffolk County police said.

The 22-year-old woman was walking at the corner of Bay Avenue and East Main Street in Patchogue at about 4 a.m. when she was approached by a man driving a green Lincoln, police said. The woman accepted and asked to be taken to an area near a store in Patchogue.

The man, later identified as Adil Raja, 22, of 337 Nicoll Ave., Central Islip, instead took her to a different location, police said. He then displayed a BB gun and sexually assaulted her in the back of the vehicle.

The woman got out and called 911. After her description of the vehicle was broadcast over police radio a short time later, a Fifth Precinct officer stopped a similar car on Sunrise Highway North Service Road in Patchogue. Raja was positively identified and arrested, police said.

He has been charged with first-degree rape and is being held at the Suffolk police's Fifth Precinct in Patchogue. His arraignment is scheduled for Sunday at First District Court in Central Islip.

The investigation is continuing, police said, and detectives are asking anyone who may have been a victim of a similar incident to call the Fifth Squad at 631-854-8552.