Detectives locked up a Jackson Heights man accused of sexually assaulting a young boy who was staying with his family at a homeless shelter in the Bronx, prosecutors announced on Thursday.
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said that Amin Laboriel, 37, was an employee of the Bridge Haven Family Transitional Residence on West 169th Street in the Highbridge section of the Bronx, where befriended a family who was staying at the shelter.
According to criminal charges, on June 2, Laboriel allegedly took their 10-year-old son to stay overnight at his Jackson Heights home, where he sexually abused the boy.
Laboriel was apprehended at Miami International Airport on June 26 with a one-way ticket to Honduras and a few personal possessions. He waived extradition and was arraigned before Queen Criminal Court on July 7 on three counts of first-degree criminal sexual act and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.
Laboriel is being held on $100,000 bail and is scheduled to return to court on July 21. If convicted, Laboriel faces up to 25 years in prison.
“The defendant is accused of using his position as a caseworker at a homeless shelter to garner the trust and confidence of a family with a young boy in order to have the mother agree to allow the victim to spend the night at the defendant’s apartment where he was sexually abused,” Brown said in a statement on July 13. “Despite the defendant’s alleged efforts to escape justice he was apprehended and will now stand accountable for his alleged crimes. This case should serve as a clear and unmistakable warning that law enforcement is prepared to apprehend and prosecute sexual predators who betray and defile youngsters.”
Brown asked that any individuals who feel that they too may have been victimized by the defendant should call his Special Victims Bureau at 718-286-6505.
