Man Wanted In Beating, Sex Assault Of Greenwich Village Massage Parlor Worker
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police are hoping surveillance video will help catch a suspect who investigators said beat and sexually assaulted an employee of a Greenwich Village massage parlor.
The alleged attack happened last Friday.
The suspect buzzed into the Body Work massage parlor posing as a first-time customer, police said. When he got inside, he beat the 41-year-old female worker unconscious, sexually assaulted her, robbed the store and then ran off, according to investigators.
1010 WINS' Stan Brooks reports
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Workers said they're shaken up and scared, but can't afford to close and lose customers.
"We still need the patrons you know and we have to work in this dangerous kind of situation," one employee, who did not want to be identified, told CBS 2's Kathryn Brown.
George Clarke works as a doorman in the next building and said he watched as emergency workers carried out the victim, who was bruised and bloodied, on a stretcher.
"She got roughed up," he said. "She was conscious, but she was kind of dazed, head slumped and kind of dazed, that's all."
Investigators have spent nearly a week canvasing the neighborhood, tracking down surveillance video and searching for any sign of the suspect.
"The cops came to our job trying to pull out videotapes," said Jocelyn Statia who works nearby.
Margaret Fasolo works nearby as a crisis counselor. She said she now not only worries for her own safety, but for the recovery of the victim as well.
"It's not really about the sex, it's more about the control and how much you lose it," she said. "And it's trying to regain it and regain feelings of safety."
The suspect is described as a black or Hispanic male, 20 to 25 years old, approximately 6 feet tall with a medium build. He was last seen wearing a dark Kangol-style cap, dark T-shirt, camouflage shorts and a backpack.
Anyone with information should call police or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com.
