Police say they've arrested the man suspected of raping a woman outside a laundry room in the East Village over the weekend.
Julio Mendez, 43, lives in the East 13th Street building between avenues B and C where he raped the 46-year-old victim Saturday morning, police said.
Police said Mendez persuaded the woman to follow him outside the laundry room, at which point he grabbed her by the arm and neck, police said. The woman fell to the ground as she resisted, and Mendez covered her mouth and tried to take off her clothes as he sexually assaulted her, but fled the scene when she screamed, the NYPD said.
The woman was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she was treated and released.
Mendez was arrested Tuesday on charges of rape, sex abuse, criminal obstruction of breathing, assault and menacing.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.
