Three of the four men who sexually assaulted and robbed a woman as she was walking home from church in Queens Tuesday night were arrested, police said Friday.
One day after the trio attacked the 50-year-old woman behind a garbage truck near the Celestial Church of Christ on Liberty Avenue in Jamaica, two of the suspects robbed a group of men at gunpoint in the same neighborhood, according to police.
Brandon Walker, 20, Justin Williams, 17, and Julisses Ginel, 19, were charged with criminal sex act, sex abuse, robbery and criminal use of a firearm for the alleged attack on the woman, police said. Police are still looking for the fourth suspect.
Williams approached the victim near 150th Street and Beaver Avenue in Jamaica at about 10:30 p.m. as she was walking home from church.
He displayed a gun, which police later determined was likely fake, and demanded her money and cell phone, prosecutors said. The woman then dumped the contents of her bag on the ground, and Williams took her phone and MetroCard, they said.
He then led her behind a garbage truck, police said. There, they were joined by Walker who demanded she take off her clothes and perform sexual acts, the DA’s office said.
When she refused, Ginel allegedly threatened to shoot her if she didn’t comply. Williams and Walker then sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said.
The woman claimed to have HIV to try to stop them, but it didn’t deter them, according to police. One of the men left to get a condom, which was later recovered at the scene, police said.
The woman managed to run away and returned to the church, where the pastor called 911, police said.
She was taken to Queens Hospital Center, where she was evaluated and released, they added.
“The crimes that the defendants are accused of committing that night are despicable and are deserving of significant punishment,” District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement.
“It is alleged that with a pack-like mentality the defendants and an unapprehended fourth man set upon a defenseless woman coming from church and, not content to simply rob her at gunpoint, two of them are alleged to have subjected her to heinous acts of sexual abuse. In addition, two of the defendants allegedly held up three innocent men at gunpoint the following evening and robbed them of their personal property.”
Williams and Ginel, who live together in Jamaica, were also charged in the robbery of three men, ages 41, 47 and 48, which took place near 147th Street and 105th Avenue at about 11 p.m. Wednesday, police said. They showed the group a gun and stole $215 and an iPhone, according to police.
Ginel admitted to participating in the robbery as a look out, and a third unknown suspect was involved, the DA’s office said.
Bail for all three was set at $250,000 or $500,000 bond on the sex charges and bail for Williams and Ginel was set at $50,000 bond and $25,000 cash bail for the robbery charges. They are next due in court on July 28, 2017. If convicted, they face up to 25 years in prison each.
Walker has been arrested 12 other times for attempted assault, public lewdness and fare evasion, among other crimes, police said. Williams was arrested in another robbery in June 2017, and Ginel was arrested for the criminal sale of marijuana in December 2015, they said.
