BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA, NEWSDAY STAFF WRITER
August 14, 2007
The hunt was on Monday for the Astoria attacker who robbed and sodomized a woman at knifepoint, police said.
The 27-year-old victim managed to run off and scream for help as her attacker fled on foot toward Ditmars Boulevard -- but by midday Monday, the neighborhood was still buzzing with news of the Sunday night attack.
"I'm here 63 years and I don't remember anything like this," said resident Harry Biolsi, 66. "That stuff doesn't really happen around here."
As he spoke, the New York Police Department's Crime Stoppers van drove throughout the neighborhood, informing residents about what happened and asking for help, and a handful of Guardian Angels patrolled Astoria on foot.
Local politicians, meanwhile, decried the attack and promised to closely monitor the case to avoid a repeat of a 2006 case in which a man accused of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl skipped out on $50,000 bail and has yet to be recaptured.
"That's why we want to be in court," said City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., who represents Astoria, "so no bail is set on this animal."
Vallone and State Assemb. Michael Gianaris are offering a $1,000 reward in addition to the Crime Stoppers $2,000 reward, for information leading to an arrest.
"This is an extremely safe neighborhood," Gianaris said. "We intend to keep it that way."
The victim, who lives in the neighborhood and was walking home, was confronted about 11 p.m. at 26th Street and Ditmars, police said.
The man had a knife, police said, and threatened the woman until she handed over her valuables -- a credit card and $400 from a recently cashed paycheck.
The suspect then forced the woman into an alleyway on 26th Street and sodomized her. As he fled, she ran for help, shaken and crying.
"She ran out in front of our car. Then we saw somebody running away," said a witness named Georgia, who didn't want her last name used. "She said, 'He tried to rape me!' She said he took her money and he had a knife to her throat."
Police said the attack did not appear to be part of a pattern. They described the suspect as a short, slim man in his 20s, wearing a black T-shirt, blue jeans and black sneakers.
It was not clear if the suspect had followed the victim, but police did seize at least one video surveillance tape, from Othello's Deli at 27th Street and 24th Avenue. A worker there said the woman bought juice about 10:20 p.m.
"When you look at the camera, she was happy," said the worker, Angelo Beninati, 22, whose father owns the deli. "She leaves by herself and comes by herself. She leaves laughing."
Matthew Nestel contributed to this story.
Copyright © 2007, Newsday Inc.
