After accepting a sweetheart plea bargain in a rape case involving his adolescent cousin because Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg refused to put him in jail, a guy from New York proceeded on a binge of sexual offences.
Although the offence carries a possible punishment of 16 months to four years in prison, Justin Washington, 25, was given a reduced 30-day sentence and five years of probation after pleading guilty to compulsion in his Manhattan rape case in August.
Washington allegedly sexually assaulted a young relative as they were watching television, according to authorities.
In the last days of his freedom, a week before Washington was scheduled to receive a sentence for that offence, he went on a horrible rampage of sexual attacks on four women and one male.
Initially charged in February with first-degree rape, first-degree sexual abuse, and forceful touching, he was detained on a $25,000 cash bail and then faced third-degree rape allegations.
Washington was released from prison on a $12,000 bail after prosecutors decided they lacked sufficient evidence, according to the New York Post.
At 8:20 a.m., Washington broke through the window of an apartment belonging to an 18-year-old guy, said, “Can I have a dollar, bro?” while placing his hands in the victim’s underpants and gripping his buttocks.
Washington declined the victim’s offer of a dollar cash and then said, “Never mind, you’re not understanding,” before escaping out the window.
Less than an hour later, Washington allegedly climbed the fire escape of an apartment building and started pounding on the window of a 26-year-old woman’s flat, who was at the time living there with her nine-month-old kid.
She was horrified to see Washington masturbating on the fire escape as she pulled back her curtains.
He entered another woman’s apartment in the same building 30 minutes later and made an attempt to rape her, according to court documents.
Can I have a dollar again? he said as he shoved the 49-year-old lady into the bed, yanked up her nightgown, and masturbated.
She boldly bit his hand and scratched him before hitting him in the head with a hammer, forcing him to run. He tore the woman’s legs apart and sniffed them.
A homeless lady who was camped out in an apartment building’s lobby became the ultimate casualty in his reign of terror.
Prosecutors claim that Washington was seen on security footage pulling down the woman’s trousers, groping her buttocks, and masturbating.
Two days later, the Bronx warrant squad of the NYPD pulled him up at a homeless shelter and charged him with the offences, which included attempted rape, burglary, forced contact, and sexually motivated felony.
The choice to grant Washington a plea agreement was justified by a representative for Bragg’s office notwithstanding the gravity of his first offence against his cousin.
According to spokeswoman Emily Tuttle, “Our seasoned sex crimes prosecutors conducted a comprehensive investigation and were in constant communication with the survivor’s family throughout this case.”
Tuttle stated, “Based on the facts, we concluded that this was an acceptable plea to save the young survivor having to testify, while holding Washington responsible for his behaviour.
Tuttle, though, said that “the investigation into this week’s incredibly distressing claims in the Bronx continues, and we will decide whether to argue for a harsher prison sentence” following Washington’s horrifying crime spree.
One Manhattan police officer allegedly said, “How can a guy who rapes an innocent adolescent girl roam the streets to sexually assault [five] more innocent [people], including a homeless woman?” when asked about the assaults. Police were incensed.
He shouldn’t have been let to roam the streets since these were really traumatic crimes. What about the adolescent? Another officer was heard yelling, “The DA should be coming up with programmes for victims, not criminals,” and adding, “I disagree.”