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Both Port Chester resident Richard Olmino, age 21, and 32-year-old Jose Mejia Lopez face sexual abuse charges after allegedly assaulting teenage girls in three separate incidents that happened in North White Plains, Port Chester, and Rye, the Westchester County District Attorney's Office announced on Monday, Aug. 14.
According to DA Office officials, all three incidents happened in June.
The investigation leading to Olmino's arrest began following an incident on Friday, June 23 around midnight, when Olmino allegedly threatened a 16-year-old jogger with a knife in Rye Town Park before tackling her to the ground, officials said.
Olmino then allegedly exposed himself and began sexually assaulting her before a security guard in the area stopped the attack and Olmino ran from the scene, leaving his phone behind.
The City of Rye Police Department, Westchester County Police, and federal agents were then able to use Olmino's phone to identify and locate and find him, culminating in his arrest on Saturday, June 24.
The next day, Sunday, June 25, Olmino was remanded to Westchester County Jail following the discovery that he had two open warrants in Connecticut for public lewd acts as well as a pending criminal case in Suffolk County.
Eventually, investigators were able to use DNA evidence to also link Olmino to an incident on Saturday, June 3, when he allegedly sexually assaulted an 18-year-old walking home from an after-prom party near Rye High School just after 1:30 a.m.
Olmino was later charged with the following in both incidents during his indictment in Westchester County Court on Tuesday, Aug. 8:
- First-degree attempted rape;
- First-degree attempted criminal sexual act;
- Two counts of first-degree criminal sexual act;
- Four counts of first-degree sexual abuse;
- Endangering the welfare of a child;
- Four counts of third-degree robbery;
- Two counts of fourth-degree grand larceny;
- Three counts of second-degree unlawful imprisonment.
He remains in custody at Westchester County Jail and will next appear in court on Tuesday, Aug. 22.
According to DA officials, the third incident of sexual assault, which involved Lopez, happened on Thursday, June 22 around 4 p.m., when he allegedly grabbed an 18-year-old woman walking with friends to the North White Plains Metro-North Station.
Lopez then forcibly kissed her while pinning her against a wall by her neck and holding a knife to her throat, officials said. This attack was later found to have been caught on surveillance video.
After learning that Lopez left the scene on a Westchester County Beeline No. 6 Route bus, White Plains Police were able to stop the Yonkers-bound bus on North Broadway and remove him from the vehicle.
Following his arrest though, Lopez managed to escape custody. After a short chase, during which an officer was hurt, he was finally apprehended. Authorities later found a pocket knife underneath a seat on the bus near where Lopez had been sitting, according to the DA's Office.
Lopez was charged with the following after his arrest:
- First-degree sexual abuse;
- Third-degree criminal possession of a weapon;
- Second-degree unlawful imprisonment;
- Second-degree menacing;
- Second-degree assault;
- Resisting arrest;
- Third-degree escape.
Lopez, who still remains at Westchester County Jail, had his bail set at $50,000 cash/$100,000 bond/$500,000 partially-secured bond. He will next appear in court on Tuesday, Aug. 29.
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