By Kathianne Boniello
Elkech Leon, 20, of 89-43 212th Place told Criminal Court Judge Joseph Grosso that he admitted his guilt in the case because he wanted to take responsibility for his actions.
Leon was one of three teens arrested in the Oct. 26, 1999 sodomy and sexual attack on a 16-year-old girl in the basement of Bayside HS. Parrish Jones, of East Elmhurst, and Jonathan Mendoza, of Flushing, have pleaded not guilty in the case and were awaiting trial this week, said spokeswoman Betsy Herzog in Queens DA Richard Brown's office.
Grosso told the Queens Village resident, who was 18 at the time of the attack, that he could expect a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison when he is sentenced on Feb. 27, Herzog said. Since he is facing various charges of sodomy, kidnapping, assault and sexual abuse, Herzog said Leon could receive a maximum sentence of 18 years in jail.
The brutal attack – in which the victim was choked into unconsciousness with a belt and sodomized – shattered the normally quiet, safe atmosphere of Bayside HS. Mendoza allegedly acted as the lookout during the attack, which took place in a boys' bathroom in the basement of the high school.
The victim and her alleged attackers were sophomores at the time of the attack.
Herzog said Jones and Mendoza, now both 19, were being held on $350,000 bail and would remain in prison until their trial unless a plea bargain was arranged in the meantime.
Of Leon's guilty plea, Herzog said Monday “this was not part of any plea bargain. He did not get any kind of deal.”
Herzog said Grosso questioned Leon several times to determine whether he might have been forced into making the plea. But Leon, who had faced more than 65 years in prison if convicted in a trial, said he had made his own decision.
