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Cops Hunt Suspect in Upper East Side Sex Attack Spree

By DNAinfo Staff on July 14, 2011 2:00pm  | Updated on July 14, 2011 6:20pm

This is the man wanted for a string of gropings on the Upper East Side beginning June 5, 2011.
This is the man wanted for a string of gropings on the Upper East Side beginning June 5, 2011.
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NYPD

By Ben Fractenberg and Tom Liddy

DNAinfo Staff

MANHATTAN - A terrifying incident in which a woman was followed into an Upper East Side building and sexually assaulted is linked to five other gropings in the neighborhood at the hands of a pint-sized attacker, police said Thursday.

In the most recent case, which unfolded early Wednesday morning, a 31-year-old woman was followed into a building on East 85th Street and East End Avenue just after midnight and fondled by a stranger, sources said.

Detectives were seen in the neighborhood canvassing the block early in the morning, hunting for surveillance tape, but no arrests have been made.  

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Thursday that investigators believe that the assault is linked to five others in the neighborhood in recent months.

A woman walks by the corner of East 85th Street and East End Avenue, the scene of a sexual assault on July 13, 2011.
A woman walks by the corner of East 85th Street and East End Avenue, the scene of a sexual assault on July 13, 2011.
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DNAinfo/Ben Fractenberg

"We see this as part of a pattern," he said.

The spree began on Jan. 5, when a 28-year-old woman was groped while entering her apartment.  The suspect then laid low until May 18, when he grabbed a 28-year-old woman's crotch.

All of the attacks occurred at night or early in the morning inside or near the victims' apartment buildings, police said.  In one case, on June 6, the victim, a 25-year-old woman was able to fight him off after he grabbed her arm, kicking him away.

In most of the instances, the suspect put his hands up the victims' skirts after approaching them from behind.  All of the victims have been young women ranging in age from 27 to 31.

Cops did not disclose the exact locations of the attacks.

The suspect is described as a Hispanic man, 4-foot-11, 120 pounds with black hair.  He was last seen wearing a black turtle neck sweatshirt and blue jeans.

The neighborhood has been the scene of at least two other well-publicized attacks in recent weeks.

On May 30, an 85-year-old woman was robbed and sexually assaulted at East 83rd Street and Lexington Avenue.  A Brooklyn man, Jeffrey Ritter, 32, was arrested in connection with the incident.

Just days earlier, on May 22, a 25-year-old woman narrowly escaped being attacked in the doorway of her building on East 90th Street, near Lexington Avenue. Her attacker has not been found.

Through July 3, rape is up 33 percent in the 19th Precinct compared to the same period last year, from 6 incidents to 8, according to NYPD statistics.

The attacks have women in the neighborhood on edge.

Cailin Schiller, 23, who has lived close to where the 85th Street attack happened for about a year,  said she does not listen to music when she walks around and keeps keys in her hand so that she can defend herself.  She also keeps a bat at home.

“I take this type of thing pretty seriously," she said.

Bookkeeper Alexandra Silda, 39, who has been living in the neighborhood for two years, said that the attacks have been "really scary."

"I [felt] kind of safe here," said the mom, who was walking her baby in a stroller.  "Now I’ll be more aware."

And Maria Kalapno, 27, who moved to the block about a month ago, said that she usually walks with somebody and avoids going out late at night.

"I’m surprised," she said. "From what I’ve heard, this is one of the safest neighborhoods."

There has also been a string of sex attacks in Washington Heights, Inwood and the Upper West Side that have left women on edge.

One of the alleged attackers, Ray Diaz, was arrested for attacking a 37-year-old woman in her building on 192nd Street and Broadway on June 11.