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Silvio Raul Illescas, 40, has been charged with eight counts of predatory sexual assault, one count of second-degree attempted murder, four counts of first-degree rape, six counts of first-degree criminal sexual act, one count of first-degree robbery, one count of second-degree strangulation, one count of first-degree attempted rape, one count of first-degree attempted assault, three counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, one count of first-degree sex abuse and one count of first-degree unlawful imprisonment, all felonies.
Illescas is accused of four sexual assaults, according to the District Attorney's office.
“If not for all four of these women immediately crying out, contacting police and helping with the investigation, this serial rapist, who was becoming increasingly more violent, would still be at large,” District Attorney Janet DiFiore said. “Aggressive detective work by both the Greenburgh and Tarrytown police departments and assiduous forensic analysis by the Westchester County Department of Labs and Research surely prevented more women from being victimized.”
The first assault is alleged to have occurred in August 2011. Officials say Illescas approached a woman near Massaro Park in Greenburgh, asking for directions while she was walking home from work. Illescas is reported to have grabbed the women's purse, ordered her to get into his car and threatened to kill her.
Illescas drove the woman to a secluded area near the Home Depot at Austin Avenue and Sprain Road in Yonkers, where he choked and sexually assaulted her, officials say. The case was linked to Illescas using DNA.
Illescas is also accused of raping or attempting to rape several women he met through backpage.com.
Officials say he met one victim who advertised as an escort on the site at the Westchester Marriott Hotel in February 2013. Illescas told the woman he wanted to have sex without a condom. The woman refused, and Illescas “attacked her, punching her in the head and then pressing a knife to her neck telling her that he would kill her if did not comply with what he wanted,” the District Attorney's office said in a statement.
“A struggle ensued and the defendant choked her leaving serious bruise marks to the side of her neck.”
Officials say Illescas threatened the woman with a gun and then raped her before stealing three cell phones and warning her not to involve the police. Illescas is accused of trying to rape another woman he met through backpage.com at the DoubleTree Hotel in Tarrytown less than two weeks later in February 2013. Officials say Illescas pulled out a kitchen knife, jabbed the knife about the woman's body and attempted to rape the woman.
The woman managed to run towards the door, where Illescas stabbed her in the neck and then fled.
About a week later in March 2013, officials say Illescas met with another escort at the LaQuinta Hotel in Greenburgh and they began to engage in consensual sex. Illescas pulled out a knife when the woman refused to have sex with a condom, threatened her and raped her.
Illescas remains in the Westchester County Jail. His next court date is April 23.
Illescas faces 25 years to life in state prison for the predatory sexual assault charges.
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