HARLEM MAN SENTENCED TO 17 YEARS IN PRISON FOR RAPING,
HOLDING CAPTIVE A WOMAN HE MET THROUGH ONLINE DATING
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a 36-year-old Harlem man who raped a woman whom he met through an online dating site and then took on a terror ride has been sentenced to 17 years in prison and 20 years of post-release supervision.
District Attorney Clark said, “This defendant used the Internet to prey on a woman who was searching for romance. He sexually assaulted her and stole her car. This case is a warning to use caution on dating websites, where people may not be what they seem.”
District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Kenneth Washington, 36, of 2999 Eighth Ave., Manhattan, was sentenced on Wednesday, March 30, 2016, in Bronx Supreme Court by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Barbara Newman to 17 years in prison and 20 years post-release supervision.
Washington was convicted by a jury on February 2, 2016 of first-degree Criminal Sexual Act, third-degree Rape, fourth-degree Grand Larceny, second-degree Reckless Endangerment, second-degree Unlawful Imprisonment, third-degree Unauthorized Use of Vehicle, fifth-degree Criminal Possession of Stolen Property, Operating a Motor Vehicle While under the Influence of Alcohol, Reckless Driving, and Leaving the Scene of an Incident without Reporting.
According to trial testimony, on October 9th, 2014, Washington and the victim met in person after meeting on PlentyOfFish.com, and began a relationship. A week later, on October 15th, 2014, the two met again and went to an apartment on Walton Avenue in the Grand Concourse section of the Bronx.
Washington took the victim’s rental car and returned several hours later with another woman. Washington forced the victim to perform oral sex on him and to have sexual intercourse with him.
Afterwards, Washington made the victim get into her car while he drove erratically for several hours and the female accomplice held the victim in place. Washington repeatedly threatened the victim, who jumped from the moving car and called 911.
Three days later, Washington still had the victim’s rental car and was driving drunk when he struck a pedestrian and crashed into the scaffolding of a building on the Grand Concourse. He fled into a subway station but was held by passersby until police arrived.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Jill Starishevsky and Scott Cutrone of the Bronx District Attorney’s Child Abuse/Sex Crimes Bureau.
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