Teen Charged In Connection With Rape Of 82-Year-Old Brooklyn Woman
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An 18-year-old man was arrested and charged in connection with the rape and torture of an 82-year-old Brooklyn woman thanks to a tip from his own mother, police sources said.
Asa Roberts, 18 -- also known to police as Asa Roberts -- was charged with rape, robbery, assault, burglary and several other charges Friday afternoon.
Roberts was arrested Friday morning after trying to elude cops on his tail, running from different buildings, witnesses said.
Investigators arrested Roberts at an apartment on Putnam Avenue after he escaped out the window of the apartment of a female acquaintance and jumped from a fire escape to the ground, police sources told CBS2.
"They chased him earlier," said witness Joshua Hudson. "He scaled the fence and just got gone, just disappeared."
"He was chilling with a lady who lives in this building who didn't know that he was a rapist," said neighbor Shanice Gordon. "She says she wasn't watching the news or anything to know what was going on."
He hurt himself in the jump and left a blood trail that led police to Putnam Avenue, sources said.
Law enforcement sources said they originally tracked him to another nearby apartment after his mother gave investigators his cell phone number, CBS2's Andrea Grymes reported.
Sources also said Roberts had cut his hair, trying to disguise his appearance
"They were banging on the doors trying to get on the roof," said resident Anthony Greenidge.
They eventually found him at 4 a.m. hiding in a basement apartment, CBS2's Sonia Rincon reported.
"I saw them bringing him out," said witness Billy Robinson. "I know he jumped the fence from Madison and he was about to come this way, but he went in the backyard of somebody's house and they just bum rushed the houses, bum rushed the houses and they got him."
Roberts was wanted in connection with the rape after being seen on surveillance video lurking outside the woman's Brighton Beach home at around 1:30 a.m. Monday.
Police said he sneaked into the house through the unlocked front door as the woman was sweeping outside, police said. When the woman went back inside the house, police said she found Roberts in a bedroom.
Police Arrest Suspect Accused Of Raping 82-Year-Old Brooklyn Woman
Police said Roberts then held the senior at knifepoint and demanded cash, but when the woman explained she didn't have any, he held her captive for hours.
Fearing for her life, police said the woman offered to cook for Roberts, but he instead became more violent, ransacking her dresser drawers for valuables. When he didn't find anything, police said he tied her up and raped her.
"I'm glad they got him. That's something ... that's terrible. That's really terrible for something like this. That's beyond low," said neighbor Ray Jackson.
Outside of the Brooklyn Special Victims Station House, Roberts denied raping the victim, Rincon reported.
"I'm sorry for being in her house and everything else ... I apologize. But I did not rape the lady," Roberts said Friday.
Roberts was also charged at that station house with another crime, Rincon reported.
Back in March, Roberts jumped a turnstile and did not pay his subway fare in Brooklyn. He assaulted the officer who tried to arrest him, breaking the officer's jaw, Rincon reported.
Sources told CBS2's Rincon that Roberts has long criminal history including 2006 criminal sex act arrest with a victim under the age of 11. He was 9 at the time, sources said.
