15 יעריגע מיידעל פון קר''י גערעיפט

ווי זיי שרייבען איז שוין געווען עפעס א נאנטשאפט פון פריער

SPRING VALLEY -A village man is being held on $35,000 bail on felony charges that he raped a 15-year-old girl from the Hasidic community of Kiryas Joel, police said.

Oscar Garcia, 33, was arraigned in Spring Valley court this morning. He was arrested last night and charged with third-degree rape, a felony.

The alleged crime took place Tuesday in Spring Valley, police said. The suspect and victim knew each other, Sgt. Louis Scorziello said.

"There was some kind of a relationship between the two of them," Scorziello said.

Garcia was charged with statutory, not forcible, rape.

Investigators believe the suspect and victim met through a telephone call that was originally a wrong number.

No one from the suspect's nor the victim's families attended the court hearing.

Garcia lives with his in-laws at 17 Washington St., police saidm abd works as a landscaper. Police said he was originally from Guatemala and had lived in Rockland for three years.

They were checking his immigration status

SPRING VALLEY - A wrong number brought Oscar Garcia together with a 15-year-old girl from a Hasidic Jewish community in Orange County, police said yesterday.

And their relationship became illegal soon after they met, police said.

Officers arrested the 33-year-old Garcia on Thursday night at his village home on a felony statutory rape charge accusing him of having sex with the underage girl.

Details of their relationship and how long they knew each other were not released by the police. Police said the girl hails from the Hasidic enclave of Kiryas Joel, whose members live separately from secular society.

Garcia and the child first met during a telephone conversation, Sgt. Louis Scorziello said.

"They met through an erroneous phone call," Scorziello said. "I don't know who dialed the wrong number - him or her."

Police were told about the relationship by the Rockland Sheriff's Department, which had received a tip, Scorziello said.

Officer Kim Grey handled the initial report, did interviews and located Garcia and the girl, Scorziello said.

"Officer Grey did an excellent job," he said. "She turned the details over to the detective bureau and an arrest was made."

Police arrested Garcia on Thursday at 17 Washington St. Yesterday he told a village justice that he lived there with his two in-laws.

Garcia was accused of having sex with the girl on Tuesday at the Washington Street house, according to criminal complaint read yesterday in Village Court.

Justice Susan Smith set Garcia's bail at $35,000 on a charge of third-degree rape. The District Attorney's Office recommend the bail figure. Garcia was being held in the county jail in New City.

Smith scheduled a preliminary felony hearing on the rape charge for Wednesday afternoon. The prosecution will have to provide evidence to warrant holding Garcia on bail.

If a grand jury indicts Garcia before Wednesday, the hearing would be adjourned and the case transferred to County Court in New City.

Garcia, handcuffed behind his back and wearing a white-T-shirt, blue jogging pants and sandals, didn't enter a plea.

He listen to the complaint and answered questions through a Spanish-speaking interpreter.

Garcia told the court he had been living in Spring Valley for three years and works for a landscaping company. He didn't identify the company.

Police said he was born and raised in Guatemala and his status in the United States was under investigation. If Garcia does not have legal status, conviction on the statutory rape charge could lead to deportation after a prison sentence or jail term is completed.

תוקן על ידי רודי12 ב- 22/04/2008 7:55:18