The arrest stemmed from an incident on Saturday, March 10 at around 9:50 a.m., when a woman told the Village of Mamaroneck Police Department that she was being held at an unknown location within the village, the department said on Monday, March 11.
Officers were then able to get more information from her, identify her location, and find her at an apartment building on West Boston Post Road (Route 1). There, the victim, a 22-year-old Port Chester woman, had been held against her will and sexually assaulted by the suspect, identified as 40-year-old Francisco Mercado of Mamaroneck, police said.
The victim also told officers that she had met Mercado for the first time the previous evening at a local establishment within the village, according to the department.
Mercado was then detained and taken to police headquarters while detectives began investigating further. Meanwhile, the victim was taken to a hospital for further examination.
Mercado was eventually charged with:
- First-degree rape;
- Second-degree unlawful imprisonment;
- Criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation.
He was arraigned in the Village of Mamaroneck Court and taken to the Westchester County Department of Corrections, police said.
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