Aug. 30, 2011 By Christian Murray
A Queens man was sentenced to 25 years in prison for a string of sexual attacks that had been previously listed as cold cases, according to the Queens district attorney last week.
Mauricio Rosales, of Woodhaven, was arrested for four sexual attacks after he was require to submit a DNA sample after he was arrested for stealing $3,000 from a former employer. His DNA matched with evidence gathered at rape and sex-crime scenes.
The sex crimes took place between 2000 and 2003—with one taking place on the Sunnyside/Woodside border.
Rosales first sex crime occurred in Oct. 20, 2000, in Woodhaven when he entered a 12-year-old girl’s bedroom in Woodhaven through a back door and proceeded to rape her while her family was sleeping upstairs.
In the second incident, Rosales approached a 19-year-old woman while she was sitting in front of her home in Kew Gardens on July 2003, then pulled her at knifepoint into her driveway where he raped her.
In the third incident, at approximately 11 p.m., on August 7, 2003, Rosales approached a 22-year-old woman in front of her home in Kew Gardens, grabbed her by the throat, took her cash and cell phone, and then dragged her into bushes where he tried to remove her pants. The woman struggled and shouted and the defendant fled.
In the final incident, at approximately 7 p.m., at the subway station located at Roosevelt Ave. and 52nd St., on March 9, 2005, the defendant held a knife to a 32-year-old woman as she walked along the subway platform, robbed her of cash, and then forced her to sit as he masturbated on her.
