Bronx DA: Rikers Island Inmate Indicted For Attempting To Rape NYC DOC Officer And Sexually Abusing Four Inmates

RIKERS ISLAND INMATE INDICTED FOR ATTEMPTING TO RAPE

NYC DOC OFFICER AND SEXUALLY ABUSING FOUR INMATES

          Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Rikers Island inmate has been indicted for Attempted Rape, Sexual Abuse charges and additional charges for attacking a female NYC Department of Correction Officer and four inmates in separate incidents in the jail.

        District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant allegedly tried to rape a Correction Officer on Rikers Island, after he allegedly sexually abused four inmates. Safety in Rikers Island is a priority. We will not tolerant violence or sexual assault against Correction Officers, inmates or anyone else who has to be in the jail.”

         District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Antonio Rich, 48, was arraigned today on Attempted Rape in the first and third degree, Attempted Criminal Sexual Act in the first and third degree, two counts of second-degree Assault, five counts of first-degree Sexual Abuse, five counts of third-degree Sexual Abuse, one count of third-degree Assault, and five counts of Forcible Touching before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Margaret Clancy.  Bail was continued in the amount of $200,000 bond/ $100,000 cash, and the defendant is due back in court on November 25th, 2019.

According to the investigation, on August 10, 2019 at about 3 a.m. in a dormitory-style housing area in the Otis Bantum Correction Center, the defendant approached four inmates who were asleep and forcibly touched them with his genitals as he masturbated. At about 11:15 p.m. that same day, in another housing area in OBCC, the defendant walked out of the shower naked while touching his genitalia. He approached the victim, a female Correction Officer who was in her enclosed work area and attacked her. As the victim and the defendant struggled, Rich allegedly broke the Officer’s belt, attempted to pull her pants down and tried to rape her. Rich was separated from the victim after other Correction Officers rushed to her aid.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys James McPartlon and Jordan Montoya of the Rikers Island Prosecution Bureau, under the supervision of Jonathan Abramovitz and Sheryl Konigsberg, Supervisors in the Rikers Island Prosecution Bureau; and Francis Alberts, Chief of the Rikers Island Prosecution Bureau, and the overall supervision of Tarek Rahman, Deputy Chief of the Investigations Division, and Jean T. Walsh, Chief of the Investigations Division. 

District Attorney Clark thanked Bronx DA Senior Detective Investigator Timothy Gernon, Investigators Jason Gethers and Scott Frank of the Correction Intelligence Bureau of the Department of Correction, and Investigator Jonathan Newton and other members of the Investigation Division of the Department of Correction for their assistance in the investigation.

An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.

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