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State Police arrested Orlando Martinez Morales, 34, of Jacksonville, FL, on Thursday, Dec. 5, and charged him with first-degree rape and first-degree criminal sexual act, both Class B felonies, and forcible touching, a Class A misdemeanor.
On Sept. 2, 2017, the New York State Police from the Cortlandt barracks responded to a sexual assault on the Taconic State Parkway in Putnam County in the town of Kent.
An investigation found Martinez Morales, operating as a taxi driver, agreed to drive the victim from New York City to a location north of Albany.
While en route Martinez Morales stopped the vehicle on the shoulder of the Taconic State Parkway, entered the back seat of the vehicle and began sexually assaulting the victim, according to police.
Martinez Morales then removed the victim from the vehicle, entered the nearby woods, and raped the victim, police said.
On Dec. 5, 2019, with the help of Jacksonville Sheriff’s Deputies and New York State Police Investigators assigned to the U.S. Marshall’s Fugitive Task Force, Martinez Morales was located and taken into custody in Jacksonville, for extradition to New York.
Martinez Morales was arraigned before the Putnam County Supreme Court, and remanded to the Putnam County Jail in lieu of $250,000 cash bail or $500,000 secure bond.
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