An alleged serial rapist from Jackson Heights was arrested during the morning of Friday, Jan. 6, near Gorman Playground, one block from his home on 85th Street.
Andres Portilla, 28, was taken into custody just after 6:30 a.m. by members of the NYPD Detective Bureau’s Special Victims Unit at the northeast corner of 25th Avenue and 83rd Street. He was charged in connection with three rapes in three different police precincts beginning in September, when he allegedly raped a 15-year-old girl in the vicinity of 85th Street and 31st Avenue just a half block away from his apartment building, according to the NYPD. The victim was reportedly a runaway from Long Island who lived at Portilla’s apartment, where she had allegedly been beaten and stabbed on multiple occasions.
Portilla allegedly struck again on Friday, Dec. 16, in the 112th Precinct at 4:30 p.m., when he allegedly forced another 15-year-old girl into his vehicle on 64th Road and the service road of the Grand Central Parkway in Forest Hills, police said. Portilla locked the doors and allegedly said, “You’re not getting out of this car,” before he proceeded to rape her repeatedly in the back seat, according to the criminal complaint.
Portilla most recently struck just after midnight on New Year’s Day at Queens Plaza South and 27th Street in Long Island City, within the confines of the 108th Precinct. Portilla allegedly met a 21-year-old woman at a 7-Eleven and offered to charge her phone in his vehicle, where the 15-year-old runaway was sitting in the backseat. Portilla forced the 21-year-old woman into the red Honda Accord, locked the doors and sped off to a secluded area a few blocks away. When she refused to perform oral sex on Portilla, he allegedly grabbed a wrench and beat her with a wrench, causing her teeth to “permanently shift in her mouth,” according to the criminal complaint.
Portilla proceeded to rape her repeatedly over the course of two days. He eventually released her after threatening to harm her family if she told the police because he knew where they lived.
She informed the police of what transpired on Jan. 5 and described Portilla’s car to detectives. Following a video canvas of his neighborhood, they spotted Portilla in the vehicle at 25th Avenue and 83rd Street with the 15-year-old runaway who was bleeding from the leg and head. SVU detectives moved in to make the arrest, according to an NYPD spokesman. The runaway was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center.
Portilla was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Jan. 7 on charges of rape, assault, grand larceny, kidnapping, sexual abuse, criminal sex act, aggravated sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment and other crimes. He was ordered held without bail on Rikers Island, where he awaits his next court date.
“It’s hard to put into words the brutality inflicted upon these poor girls,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “The defendant is remanded into custody as requested by my office.”
