Cops: Stuy Town Rapist Caught! Some Fault Management’s Response to Vicious Crime

Germaine Parham, a 33-year-old ex-con who is accused of viciously raping a 14-year-old girl in the stairwell of a Stuyvesant Town building near First Ave. and the First Ave. Loop Rd. has been caught, cops said.

“Members of the NYPD assigned to the US Marshals’ New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force in assistance with the Capital Region Regional Fugitive Taskforce apprehended Germaine Parham in connection with this heinous crime,” the NYPD posted on its X account on Feb. 3.

The sexual assault happened in the late morning of Jan. 29 around 11:40 a.m. and had horrified the community of Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village which has about 25,000 residents on the East Side of Manhattan between 14th St. and 23rd St. and from 1st Ave. of the East River. It is a non-doorman complex with a key card admission system, but the suspect had gained admission by “piggybacking” into a building after a door opened, according to cops and the district attorney’s office.

Parham may have first targeted another woman before his vicious attack on the teen. According to the DA and police, a review of video in the Stuy Town complex showed that he had followed another woman into another nearby building in the complex and followed her into an elevator only to find another person was already in the elevator. He exited the building after the taking the elevator one additional floor after the woman got off and then left the building.

Seven minutes later, he piggybacked into a second building near the First Ave. Loop road, trailing closely behind the teen and entering the before the door closed. Parham was said to have grabbed the victim by waist, displayed a shiney metal object believed to be a knife and dragged her into a stairwell, “with [the victim] fighting back unsuccessfully,” according to police. Police said he had a shiny metal object in his hand and threatened to kill the teen. In the attack, he engaged in vaginal contact, anal intercourse and forced his penis into her mouth, according to police and the DAs office.

The vicious attack only stopped when someone else entered the stairway. At that point, Parham is charged with stealing the victim’s cell phone and fleeing the building.

He faces nine counts, including three separate charges of first degree rape, two count of sexual assault, two counts of sexually motivated burglary and one count of robbery. He was remanded to Riker’s Island with no bail.

A public defender, Mariah Martinez, who was originally assigned to the rape charge case, said it has instead been handed off to the Legal Aid Society, where an attorney had representation Parham in a past pending case.

He was reported to have a long rap sheet with over 30 previous arrests including theft at a mid-town CVS store on Jan. 8 where he was charged with stealing over $1,800 worth of merchandise.

The ST/PCV complex is owned by the Blackstone Group and managed by Beam Living. But some residents are faulting management for a tardy response to the heinous crime. On day one, management sent a text only to residents in the building where the attack took place informing them that there was “police activity in your building” and that one of the two entrance/exits to the building was closed. But there was no mention of a crime against a teen or that a rapist was on the loose. The notice went out about two hours after the NYPD answered a 911 call at 11:40 a.m.

An email to the wider community of 25,000 residents did not go out until Jan. 31 two days after the rape and sexual assault took place. By that time the NYPD knew the name of the suspect and released a mug shot and photos via Crime Stopper web site. Despite the name and photo of the rape suspect available from the NYPD, management only acknowledged in their email that a “serious crime” had taken place and extended sympathy to the victim and the victim’s family. Said one ST resident, “the way it was written, it could have been an elderly woman was knocked down and her purse was stolen.”

“We’re obviously relieved that he has been caught but we’re not sure we have the proper safety protocols in place,” said Susan Steinberg, president of the Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association.

She said the notice from management did not go out until after the Tenants Association itself had made their own email blast to its members on Jan. 31.

When Our Town spoke with Steinberg shortly before 5 p.m. on Feb. 3, she said she was preparing another email blast to members to inform them that a suspect had been caught and planned to invite them to a town hall to discuss security procedures in the complex.

She said she’d also be inviting “various electeds” to the town hall. “There’s is a lot we still don’t know,” she said.

Keith Powers who on Feb. 3 was elected to a New York State Assembly seat representing a district that includes Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village, said he will be reaching out to management about their safety protocols as well.

“Like many of my neighbors, I am relieved to find out that the culprit was apprehended,” said Powers. “I have heard from countless neighbors who are concerned about the safety protocols in place, and I have relayed those to management.”

Virginia Maloney, who succeeded Powers in the City Council said, “I was deeply disturbed to hear reports of last week’s horrifying attack on a child is Stuy Town. I am grateful to the NYPD for arresting the suspect.” She said she was going to have a zoom conference call with officers of the Tenants Association on the morning of Feb. 4.

We email Beam Living for comment but had not heard back by press time.