BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC | Updated Sun., Nov. 15: Police made an arrest early on the morning of Sat., Nov. 14, in connection with a Lower East Side rape pattern last Thursday.
Robert Bowie, 20, of 1459 Wythe Place, in the Bronx, was collared by police and slapped with multiple charges, including rape, sex abuse, criminal sex act, coercion, burglary and robbery.
According to police, the suspect attempted to rape two women before raping a Baruch Houses resident, all within three hours last Thursday morning.
It started before daybreak, at 5:40 a.m. on Nov. 12 with the man following the first victim, a 33-year-old woman, into her apartment building on James St. in Chinatown, police said. He grabbed her, then attempted to both rape and rob her. She was able to fight him off and he fled.
The suspect struck again at 7:40 a.m. This time, he followed a woman, 24, into her building on Broome St. on the Lower East Side, police said. He grabbed her by her shoulders and stole her identification. She screamed and he fled.
In both incidents, the women reported no injuries.
Next, at 8:45 a.m. the same morning, the man entered the Baruch Houses on the Lower East Side, according to police and news reports. A woman, 40, noticed the suspect in the stairway and he started talking to her. While they spoke, he forced her into her apartment and raped her, according to police. He then fled. She was taken to a local hospital where she was treated and released.
CBS reported that the Baruch building’s front-door lock had been broken for weeks, and that residents had long complained that the lock kept breaking. After last Thursday’s incident, workers from the New York City Housing Authority showed up and spent several hours repairing the lock.
