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Four men rape woman in Richmond Hill: Cops


The woman, whose name was not released, was walking home when she was approached from behind by four men,…

By Jennifer Warren

A 28-year-old woman was raped by four men who pulled her into their sedan in Richmond Hill at knifepoint Saturday at about 7:15 p.m., police said.

The woman, whose name was not released, was walking home when she was approached from behind by four men, one of whom wielded a knife, said Officer Chris Cottingham, a police spokesman.

The police said there was some confusion as to where she was abducted, but they believed she was taken from the corner of Lefferts Boulevard and Liberty Avenue, according to Sgt. Peter Altiere of the 102nd Precinct. The Lefferts and Liberty location would have placed the abduction within the 106th Police Precinct, the sergeant said.

“We’re trying to find out the particulars ourselves,” Altiere said, noting some irregularities in the original report that was filed. “We have conflicting information.”

What the police do know is that the men pulled the woman into a red, four-door sedan, drove her to an area near 130th Street and 90th Avenue and raped her, said Cottingham.

The four men then fled, and the woman, who called authorities, was taken to Jamaica Hospital for evaluation and treatment, police said.

No arrests have been made and the investigation was handed over to the Queens Special Victims Unit, which handles all the borough’s rape cases.

A second woman was raped in Queens over the weekend, police said. She was walking on Morgan Avenue just over the Queens border in Brooklyn at about 1:30 a.m. Monday and was forced into a car by a man, said Detective Madelyne Galindo, a police spokeswoman.

The man drove the woman to the corner of Metropolitan and Woodward avenues in Ridgewood and raped her, Galindo said. The rapist then drove the woman back to Brooklyn.

The number of rapes dropped for the first three months of the year within the 102nd and 106th precincts, according to crime statistics released by the Police Department.

Six rapes were reported within the 102nd Precinct, which covers Richmond Hill, between Jan. 1 and April 1 this year, compared to nine rapes in the same period last year for a 33 percent decrease, said Detective Carolyn Chew, a police spokeswoman.

In the 106th Precinct, which covers South Ozone Park, three rapes were reported in the first three months of the year, down 40 percent from five rapes within the same span last year, Chew said.

The Special Victims Unit will investigate similarities between Saturday’s attack and other rapes, Altiere said, but “it’s not like we’re overrun with these things,” he said.

Reach reporter Jennifer Warren by e-mail at [email protected] or call 229-0300, Ext. 155.