The suspect in the attempted rape of a woman sunbathing in New York City's Central Park last month has been charged, authorities said Wednesday.
Jermaine Longmire, 43, who has eight arrests in New York and a “substantial arrest history” in several other states, was identified as the suspect after his DNA matched evidence left at the scene of the alleged crime, New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny said.
Longmire, who is charged with attempted first-degree rape and first-degree sexual abuse, both felonies, appeared in court Wednesday.
POLICE: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT LINKED TO RAPE AND MURDER IN MORIN FOR PREVIOUS ASSAULT ON 9-YEAR-OLD GIRL
A portrait of an attempted rape suspect who attacked a woman in Central Park in June. Jermaine Longmire, 43, has been charged over the alleged attack. (New York Police)
“Our parks should be a place where New Yorkers can relax without fearing for their safety, and this alleged conduct will not be tolerated,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
Longmire was already in police custody and charged with a separate crime from 2023 involving alleged forced contact at a subway station.
Police cordon off the area where a woman was allegedly sexually assaulted while sunbathing in the park. (Fox News)
The most recent attack occurred around 1:30 p.m., when police responded to an area of Central Park near 104th Street for a report of an attempted rape of a female victim. A 21-year-old woman was sunbathing alone in a secluded part of the park when a black man, believed to be in his 30s, approached her and began exposing himself.
Officials said she stood up and tried to run away when he approached her from behind. She managed to fight off her attacker, police said.
Investigators obtained surveillance video and were able to obtain an image of the attacker, which matched Longmire's on a facial recognition system, police said. DNA collected from the woman's bikini also matched Longmire's, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny said.
New York City authorities have given an update after a woman was allegedly nearly raped in Central Park while sunbathing. (X/@News from the New York Police Department)
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Longmire was also wanted for a violent physical contact incident in March in which he allegedly grabbed a woman's buttocks from behind.
