Authorities in New York have charged a man with attempted rape after surveillance video taken showed him performing sexual acts on an unresponsive passenger who was later determined to have died.
Police have been looking for suspects in the case for weeks, after footage captured two different people robbing the corpse of a man on a train traveling from Brooklyn to Manhattan, one of whom allegedly sexually violated him.
Felix Rojas, 44, was arraigned on Tuesday, three weeks after authorities said he abused the male victim inside a subway car. Rojas, who was arrested on Sunday, has also been charged with attempted grand larceny.
He did not enter a plea. The public defender’s office representing him said it was looking into the circumstances of the case and did not comment further.
The alleged crimes unfolded on a southbound R train near the Whitehall Street station in Manhattan. The victim had boarded the train on 8 April and rode for hours before appearing to lose consciousness by 10.50pm, according to security camera video.
Police allege that Rojas showed up on the train about a half hour later and performed abusive acts, stopping and resuming as the train made stops and other passengers got on and off.
“After seeing that the victim continued to remain motionless, the defendant decided to take advantage of the situation,” Antonio Melchionna, the assistant district attorney, said during the arraignment, according to the New York Daily News.
A transit worker discovered the man motionless on the floor soon after the assault and he was declared dead by rescue workers. Authorities have not made clear when he died and a cause of death has not been released.
Family members have identified the man who died on the train as 37-year-old Jorge Gonzalez, a father who immigrated to the US from Mexico with his wife in hopes of starting a new life. He worked in construction and restaurants, but struggled with alcoholism, his estranged wife, Teresa, told the New York Daily News. After failed stints in rehab, he disappeared and she hadn’t spoken to him for years, she said.
She said she never expected to hear about the details around his death and that the couple’s 13-year-old son overheard her call with police.
“I didn’t realize that’s what they were going to tell me – until it was too late,” she told the outlet, adding that her son remarked: “Now I really don’t have a dad.”
