By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A repeat sex offender who impersonated a police officer and attempted to rape a nursing student was unable to speak at his sentencing Wednesday because his jaw was wired shut.
Michael Flores, 41, apologized through his lawyer for the July 14 attempted rape that will see him serve up to 15 years for leading a 19-year-old woman to the roof of a building at the Wagner Houses, on First Avenue, after she got lost at a Bronx subway station.
During the attack, Flores told the victim he "liked virgins just like you," and the woman considered jumping off the roof to escape, prosecutors said.
"In essence, to possibly end her life rather than be raped," Assistant District Attorney Abigail Kweskin clarified.
Flores, a level three sex offender, couldn't speak Tuesday because of an injury he'd received in jail.
Flores' time in prison plus five years of post-release supervision "will protect other women in our community from suffering similar fates at the hands of this defendant," Manhattan DA Cy Vance Jr. said in a statement.
