A 33-year-old Queens man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for four sexual attacks that had previously been listed as cold cases, the Queens district attorney said.
Mauricio Rosales, of Woodhaven, pleaded guilty to petit larceny in November 2009 for stealing $3,000 from a former employer, Queens DA Richard Brown said.
At that time, the defendant was required to submit a DNA sample to the state’s Combined DNA Index System that later matched samples in four unsolved cases that included two rapes, an attempted rape and a robbery that involved sexual abuse, the DA said.
The incidents, one of which involved a 12-year-old girl, took place in Kew Gardens, Woodhaven and Woodside.
Rosales pleaded guilty on June 28 before Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter to two counts of rape, four counts of robbery, two counts of burglary and one count each of attempted rape and sexual abuse, Brown said.
He was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years in prison.
“This case underscores the crucial importance of DNA evidence, which is irrefutable proof of guilt or innocence,” the DA said. “Today’s sentence is a measure of justice for the victims in this case in that they will be spared from testifying in open court about the grueling details of their cases while being assured that the defendant responsible for these horrific attacks will serve a lengthy prison sentence.”
On Oct. 20, 2000, the defendant raped a 12-year-old Woodhaven girl after breaking into her home through the back door, Brown said. Her family was asleep upstairs at the time of the attack.
Rosales told the girl that if she told anyone about the attack, he would come back and kill her, the DA said.
The second incident occurred on July 17, 2003 when the defendant approached a 19-year-old woman who was sitting in front of her Kew Gardens home, pulled a knife on her and raped and robbed her in her driveway, the DA said.
On Aug. 7, 2003, Rosales grabbed another Kew Gardens woman by her throat in front of her home, took her cash and cell phone and dragged her into a bush, where he attempted to remove his pants, Brown said. But the victim shouted, causing him to flee.
During the final incident, which took place on March 9, 2005, the defendant approached a 32-year-old woman in the subway station at Roosevelt Avenue and 52nd Avenue in Woodside, robbed her at knifepoint and then masturbated on her, the DA said.
Rosales provided a DNA sample in 2009 following his arrest on a misdemeanor petit larceny charge.
He was arrested in 2010 in the DNA “cold hit” cases after his sample was matched through the state’s data bank to rape kits and crime scene evidence collected at the time of the four previous incidents, Brown said.
