Two East Side Rape Suspects Caught, a Third Remains at Large

Two of the three East Side rapes took place close to midnight on July 27, according to the NYPD including one where the suspect is alleged to have raped a 13 year old girl in an East Harlem residence.

Cops said they arrested 19-year-old Bryan Marte on the same day of an alleged attack on a 13 year-old girl inside a residence near Park Avenue and East 99th Street in the 23rd Precinct. Marte also resides on East 99th Street. Police don’t disclose the exact address in sexual assault cases to protect the identity of the victims.

The second July 27 assault occurred not far from Gracie Mansion “in the vicinity of” East End Avenue and East 83 Street in the 19th Precinct. Unlike the East 99th Street case, in which charges were leveled almost immediately, an arrest was only made nine days later on August 5 when police arrested 60-year-old Sheldon Birthwright of Sparkill, NY, charging him with raping and sexually abusing a 33-year-old female.

In that case, he is charged with rape in the third degree

“I am informed by a person known to the District Attorney’s Office (“Informant”) that the defendant used his mouth to make contact with Informant’s vagina without Informant’s consent and while Informant repeatedly told the defendant “no,” according the charging document from prosecutors.

Prosecutors charged Marte with striking the victim with a closed fist, causing redness and pain to her face and that he “scratched her on the right leg, causing lacerations, bruising, and pain to her leg.”

He then engaged in vaginal sexual intercourse, oral sex, and touching of the teen victim’s breast. He faces two counts of rape in the second degree, one count of felony assault and one count of endangering the welfare of a minor.

The third rape on Manhattan’s East Side recorded in the NYPD’s crime log last week reportedly took place on June 9 at approximately 11 p.m., and was reported on July 29, according to the NYPD. In a residence near East 66th Street and 2nd Avenue (19th Precinct), cops said a 30-year-old male sexually assaulted a 30-year-old female. No arrests have been made and the investigation remains ongoing.

Rapists are easiest to identify and prosecute when victims are medically examined in the days immediately following an assault, with examinations ideally yielding physical evidence (DNA, hair, etc.). But health experts say a myriad of factors frequently prevent a victim from accessing emergency care and reporting the incident, from taboos around sexual assault to internalized fear, shame, or guilt.

Per weekly crime statistics, three of 14 rapes reported in the 19th Precinct since January 1, were reported in the past 28 days, although the date the attack was reported does not necessarily correspond to the date the crime was committed, since some victims wait before alerting police.

Up in the 23rd Precinct, three of the nine rapes reported since the start of the year through Aug. 2, occurred in the last 28 days although y-t-d the number of rapes declined 30.8 percent from the 13 reported in the same period a year earlier.