KEW GARDENS — A former Far Rockaway man already serving three years in prison for grand larceny was sentenced to between 50 and 75 years behind bars Tuesday after DNA evidence showed he raped a woman in 1996 and a 12-year-old girl in 2004, the Queens district attorney’s office said.
Richard Thomas, 43, was convicted Oct. 30 after a jury deliberated for 19 minutes.
On Aug. 17, 1996, Thomas brandished a gun at a couple seated in their vehicle and ordered them out of the car. He robbed the man and locked him in the trunk before raping and robbing the female victim in a nearby vacant lot and then locking her in the trunk, the DA said.
Then, on Feb. 20, 2004, Thomas attacked a 12-year-old girl in a driveway as she walked to the school bus, raping her and taking her lunch money, the DA said.
“DNA evidence that was collected from the rape victims at the time of the incidents and stored in a database was able to convict this defendant, thanks in part to a law for which the adult victim lobbied in Albany to have passed,” Brown said. “This case underscores the crucial importance of DNA evidence, which is irrefutable proof of guilt or innocence.”
