A level 3 sex offender, the classification would be from the penal systemwho was paroled just six weeks ago, would be the suspect in the brutal knifepoint rape of a woman in a Bronx elevator this week, police said Thursday.
The defendant was identified as Ramón Rotestan, 46, of Hispanic origin, who was released in March after 16 years in prison. Police said the man turned himself in around 8:30 p.m. at the 49th Precinct.
Police said Rotestan was paroled March 30 from state prison, where he was being held on charges of rape, sexual assault and robbery, records show.
The NYPD reported that the attack occurred around 10 p.m. Monday, when Rotestan followed the victim to the building at Bolton Street and Lydig Avenue at Pelham Parkway.
According to the report, the man threatened the woman with a knife and then placed her against the wall of the elevator and raped her, prosecutors said. He also stole $112 from the victim, police said.
The woman was taken to Jacobi Medical Center for treatment, police said.
Rotestan was charged with sexually motivated rape and robbery, authorities said.
According to the police, the accused has two prior arrests for rapeone on December 11, 2005 and another on February 2, 2006, and an attempted rape search on February 28, 2006 in Manhattan.
In each of those cases, he was armed with a knife, approached his victim in an elevator and robbed her, the sources said.
Rotestan was held without bond at his arraignment Thursday night in Bronx Criminal Court.
“This defendant has a long history of not only violently assaulting women, but also failing to comply with court orders,” Assistant District Attorney Tala Nazareno told the court.
“(Rotestan’s latest attack) is not only eerily similar, it is nearly identical to conduct committed by the defendant during the 2005 incidents that led to the defendant’s convictions in Bronx County. In each of those incidents, the defendant followed a complaining witness into an elevator and sexually assaulted her,” added Nazareno.
Rotestan also served time for first-degree robbery, attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a controlled substance, records show.
“Another failure of the New York criminal justice system. What does it take to open the eyes of politicians?! Ramon Rotestan, a recently paroled high-risk sex offender, was arrested Thursday for the brutal knifepoint rape of a woman in a Bronx elevator earlier this week. tweeted the Detectives’ Endowment Association, which represents active and retired detectives.
Here you can check the New York sex offender registry.
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