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Homeless man charged for repeatedly raping woman near Prospect Park

UPDATE: Police arrest man for raping woman at gunpoint near Prospect Park
NYPD

A homeless man faces up to 25 years in prison for brutally raping a woman near the Prospect Park Parade Ground last month, according to Brooklyn’s top prosecutor.

A grand jury charged the defendant, who resided at a Queens shelter at the time of the incident, with a top count of predatory sexual assault on Thursday, following his alleged assault of the 59-year-old victim on Nov. 18.

The man put the woman in a chokehold on Parkside Avenue near Parade Place at 5 am, according to District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, before allegedly telling her, “I have a knife. I just got out of jail and I don’t care, so follow what I told you.”

He then pulled down the woman pants and raped her on the sidewalk, before dragging her behind a bench, ordering her onto her hands and knees, and raping her again, Gonzalez alleged.

But the attack did not end there, according to the district attorney, who alleged the defendant dragged the woman by her neck to a van parked nearby, entered it with her after breaking a window, and raped her for a third time inside the vehicle, before grabbing money from her purse and fleeing.

Police apprehended the man with help from an anonymous tip received after they released surveillance footage of him, Gonzalez’s spokeswoman Helen Peterson said.

Supreme Court Justice William Miller ordered the defendant held on $500,000 bail, and he is due back in court on Feb. 19.

Reach reporter Colin Mixson at cmixson@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4505.