A Bronx man will spend at least 18 years behind bars for his role in a brutal 2018 home invasion in which an elderly Marine Park couple were tied up with duct tape and assaulted.
The sentencing of Tyrique Rushing comes after he pled guilty in April to breaking into the home of a 72-year-old retired police lieutenant and his 71-year-old wife in an early October morning in 2018.
The defendant forced the woman to perform a sex act, and knifed the retired cop in the head and face during the terrifying ordeal, according to authorities.
Rushing had two accomplices in the burglary, and they have since been jailed for roles in the crime.
“This defendant violated the sanctity of this couple’s home and subjected them to unconscionable violence,” District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement announcing Rushing’s sentencing. “With today’s lengthy sentence, he has now been brought to justice and the victims will be spared the anguish of a trial.”
According to prosecutors, Rushing, along with 25-year-old Lance Jyrkenin and 30-year-old Shirnel Sobers, broke into the Madison Place home on Oct. 8, 2018 around 4 a.m.
The brutes proceeded to tie up the elderly couple, who were in separate bedrooms, using duct tape. Rushing then forced the woman to perform a sex act and slashed her husband in the head and face.
The 72-year-old victim later received 40 stitches, while his wife was treated for bruising on her hands and wrists from the duct tape.
She also underwent a sexual assault evidence evaluation.
The men stole cash, a set of speakers, a Bank of America card and a Honda Civic from the Marine Park home that Jyrkenin and Sobers had burglarized the previous month.
The pair broke into the couple’s residence on Sept. 24, 2018 at approximately 11:30 p.m., making off with cash and the same Honda Civic that was later found abandoned in lower Manhattan.
Jyrkinen and Sobers were arrested on October 8, 2018, at approximately 10 p.m., outside of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel inside of the victims’ Honda Civic. Rushing was arrested in Joplin, Missouri on Oct. 18, 2018.
Sobers pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary on Sept. 12, 2022 and was sentenced to nine years in prison. Jyrkenin pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted murder, first-degree burglary and second-degree burglary on Dec. 11, 2019 and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun sentenced Rushing on Monday to 18 years in prison and 15 years of post-release supervision following his guilty plea to charges of first-degree attempted murder, first-degree criminal sexual act and first-degree burglary last month.
Upon his release from prison, Rushing must also register as a sex offender.
