On Sat., Nov. 28, a man wanted in connection with a rape in East River Park three days earlier surrendered to authorities.
According to police, on Wed., Nov. 25, around 7:30 p.m., a 26-year-old woman was jogging in the East Side park, near Cherry St., when the suspect, riding a bicycle, approached her and motioned for her to be quiet.
The victim turned around and started to run in the opposite direction, but the suspect grabbed her hair, put his arm around her throat and pulled her into the nearby East River Park amphitheater, where he raped her. The suspect then reportedly stole the woman’s phone and credit cards and fled the scene.
The victim was removed to Beth Israel Hospital where she was treated and released.
Police circulated video surveillance of the suspect using the victim’s credit card in a deli, and requested that confidential tips be sent to the CrimeStoppers hot line.
“Numerous tips” reportedly flooded in, leading to the victim being identified as Paul Niles, 28.
Police released a photo of Niles from an October 2015 arrest for endangering the welfare of a child in the 106 Precinct, in south central Queens.
After he turned himself in to police in Queens, Niles was charged with first-degree rape, second-degree robbery and third-degree identity theft.
During the course of the investigation, a second woman, 56, reportedly told police that she was groped by the suspect, also on Wed., Nov. 25, at 6:45 p.m. — 45 minutes before the other woman was raped in the amphitheater.
The second woman said that while she walking in the vicinity of the F.D.R. Drive and Grand St., the suspect approached her and attempted to engage her in a conversation before grabbing her buttocks and fleeing the location on a bicycle. In connection with that earlier incident, Niles was additionally charged with forcible touching.
The New York Post reported that Niles was homeless and has “numerous arrests” in New York and Maryland for assault, gun possession and robbery. The tabloid said that Niles threatened to shoot the woman before raping her in the bandshell. His defense attorney reportedly said his client had not admitted to raping the woman and “had been in and out of homeless shelters prior to the attack.”
— Lincoln Anderson
