Police said Monday a registered sex offender is a person of interest in the sexual attack on a German tourist as she walked to her Airbnb in Harlem early Thursday morning, May 4, 2017, a law enforcement source said.
Keon Robinson, 28, a registered level three sex offender, is wanted for questioning in connection to the incident, cops said. He was released from prison in January after serving time for a sexual abuse and robbery in Brooklyn, according to the New York State Department of Corrections.
In the recent incident in Harlem, the 31-year-old woman had her teeth punched out and was sexually assaulted on West 146th Street, between Seventh Avenue and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, at about 2:50 a.m., police said. The suspect first approached her and grabbed her purse, according to authorities.
When she resisted, he punched her in the face, knocking her to the ground, a surveillance video of the attack shows.
The man continued to punch the woman in the head as she lay on the ground, and then removed her pants and sexually assaulted her, according to authorities.
The victim suffered head trauma and some of her teeth were knocked out, police said. She was taken to a hospital in stable condition.
Airbnb said in a statement that safety of guests is “of primary importance.”
“We are outraged by the reports of what happened to our guest,” the statement said. “We hope this criminal is brought to justice as soon as possible.”
Police are also investigating a robbery that happened a few blocks away in April, but they have not officially linked the cases.
A 35-year-old woman was approached from behind on West 145th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue on April 24 at about 4 a.m. The man pretended to have a gun, stole her bag and struck her multiple times in the face, police said.
That woman was taken to Harlem Hospital Center and treated for her injuries. Police had arrested a man in connection to this incident, but he was later released.
