A man was charged in connection with two sexual assaults in a Queens park that took place over the course of two days last week, an NYPD spokeswoman said Friday.
On July 18, a 32-year-old woman was walking inside Colden Park, also known as Kissena Corridor Park, at Main Street and 56th Avenue in Flushing, around 11 p.m. when Charles Tobin, who was wielding a knife, demanded money from her, the NYPD said.
After the woman gave him $50, Tobin took her to a wooded area of the park and raped her, police said. The victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan for treatment.
One day later, a 17-year-old was walking through the park around 10:30 p.m. when Tobin approached her with a knife and led her into the same wooded area of the park, where he sexually assaulted her, the NYPD said.
Tobin was taken into custody on July 20 after it was determined that the two assaults were carried out by the same person, according to the NYPD Queens Special Victims Squad.
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown called Tobin, 29, a “human predator” that “lurked in the darkness” to carry out these attacks.
“Our City parks should be a safe haven for people at any time of the day or night,” Brown said during a news conference Saturday. “The defendant now faces the possibility of spending the rest of his life behind bars if convicted.”
Tobin, who lives just a short walk from the park, is facing a slew of charges, including rape, two counts of robbery, two counts of criminal sex act, sex abuse and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.
The park is the site of a 2015 slashing that left 28-year-old Qing Qing Kiemde dead and, most recently, where a decomposed body was discovered in February. Both incidents took place in the wooded area of the park, police said.
