A registered sex offender from Richmond Hill, with more than two dozen arrests on his rap sheet, will do more prison time after he sexually abused a woman on a Jamaica street last summer, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
Basam Syed, 43, of 111th Street, was sentenced Tuesday, Feb. 7, to three years in prison for persistent sexual abuse of a woman, according to Katz. Syed pleaded guilty to the charge on Jan. 24 before Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant. He was previously convicted of sexual abuse in Queens in 2015 and for forcible touching in Manhattan, also in 2015.
According to the charges, on Aug. 1, 2022, Syed approached a woman working as a college summer intern canvassing the Jamaica area seeking signatures for a petition. Syed approached the victim and signed his name to the petition. Syed sexually abused the victim by rubbing his genitals against her on the sidewalk near Parsons Boulevard and Jamaica intersection and fled on foot.
Syed was arrested about a week later after the victim identified him utilizing an internet search with the information he entered on the petition.
“The sentence punishes the defendant’s lewdness and should teach him that his disgusting behavior has no place on our street and simply won’t be tolerated,” Katz said.
Justice Pandit-Durant imposed a determinate sentence of three years in prison to be followed by five years’ post-release supervision.
