What to Know
- An attacker grabbed a woman by the neck and tried to rape her outside a laundry room in Manhattan, police said
- The man attacked the 46-year-old woman after persuading her to follow him out of the laundry room
- Police have identified the suspect as 43-year-old Julio Mendez
UPDATE: Suspect in East Village Laundry Room Rape Arrested
An attacker grabbed a woman by the neck and tried to rape her outside a laundry room in Manhattan, police said.
The 46-year-old woman was in the laundry room at a building on East 13th Street, between Avenues B and C in the East Village, around 11:15 a.m. on Saturday when the man, identified by police as 43-year-old Julio Mendez, approached her and started talking to her, the NYPD 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.
After the woman fell to the ground as she resisted, Mendez covered her mouth and tried to take off her clothes, but fled the scene when she screamed, the NYPD said.
The woman was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she was treated and released.
Local
Police are now searching for Mendez, whom they describe as an approximately 160-pound man standing at 5-foot-6.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.
