A Georgia man is facing 10 years in prison after admitting to raping a woman in a Jamaica alley in 2020, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
Rony Lopez Alvarez, 39, of Forest Park, Georgia, on April 28 pleaded guilty in Queens Supreme Court to rape in the first degree for dragging his victim into a dark alley, raping her and then fleeing New York. He was apprehended in Georgia and extradited back to Queens to face justice.
According to court records, in the early morning hours of Jan. 18, 2020, a 27-year-old woman walked past shops on a commercial strip along Jamaica Avenue, when Lopez Alvarez grabbed her. Putting a hand over her mouth, he wrapped an arm around the victim’s waist and pressed a sharp object against her. Lopez Alvarez then forced her into an alley between the shops and told her he would “snap her neck” if she screamed for help.
He proceed to pull the victim toward the back of the alley where he removed some of her clothes and raped her before fleeing the area. The woman was able to walk out of the alley and flag down a passerby who called 911 for her.
The victim was taken to an area hospital where she was treated and a rape kit was used to collect DNA evidence. A DNA profile was developed from the DNA evidence found in the rape kit and, after an investigation was conducted, a DNA match was discovered. Lopez Alvarez was tracked down more than a year after the attack in his hometown of Forest Park, Georgia, and transported back to Queens in June 2021.
“For more than a year, we continued our investigation in search of the man responsible for this horrible crime,” Katz said. “The defendant, who fled the state and was extradited to face charges, has now admitted to brutally violating a woman as she walked along the sidewalk. Although the trauma cannot be undone, I hope that the victim takes some solace and rests easier knowing her attacker will be incarcerated for his criminal actions.”
Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant will sentence Lopez Alvarez on May 12 and indicated that a sentence of 10 years in prison would be imposed, to be followed by five years post-release supervision.
