PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release on April 12, 2005

Contact: (718) 556-7050

D.A. Donovan Announces DNA Indictment for 1995 Rape, Arrest One Day Prior to Suspect’s Release from Prison

***Victor Cruz, 34, Indicted for 1995 Rape in Staten Island,
Identified through a “hit” in DNA Database ***

STATEN ISLAND, NY- Richmond County District Attorney Daniel M. Donovan, Jr. today announced the unsealing of an indictment against Victor Cruz (DOB: 12/12/1970), for the brutal September 6, 1995 rape of a 19 year old female resident of St. George in the Port Richmond section of Staten Island. Prior to his arrest for this crime, Cruz has been incarcerated in the Madison County (NY) Jail for a 1999 robbery conviction in the borough and was scheduled to be released for that crime on April 12, 2005.

“As Victor Cruz spent the last few days packing his belongings in jail, making plans for when he would rejoin free society, my office was planning to see that he faced justice for what he did to an innocent girl nearly ten years ago,” stated District Attorney Donovan. “He may have felt that he was home free after a decade, but his DNA will ensure that jail remains his home for years to come.”

Cruz was indicted by a Staten Island Grand Jury on the charges of Rape in 1st Degree, Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the 1st Degree and two counts of Sodomy in the 1st degree. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the top count of the indictment, Rape in the 1st Degree. At approximately 11:00 PM, Cruz is alleged to have led the teen, now aged 28, from a bus stop at the intersection of Forest and Richmond Avenues. He is then alleged to have led her to a wooded area where he raped and sodomized her at knifepoint.

Cruz was located and charged for this crime as part of the “John Doe Indictment Project.” The DNA collected from the 1995 victim was matched to a sample on file in the New York State DNA Database for Cruz’s prior felony conviction.

Cruz was arraigned on the charges Wednesday morning in State Supreme Court, St. George. He is remanded into custody. He is due back in court on April 26, 2005. Assistant District Attorney Santosh Madahar will be prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Yolanda L. Rudich, Chief of the Sex Crimes/Special Victims Bureau. Cruz is represented by Joseph Licitra.

Last, July, District Attorney Donovan’s office indicted the first DNA kit in Staten Island’s history. Just ten days before the statute of limitations was due to expire; an indictment was filed against the individual, identified by his DNA, for a brutal rape committed in 1994 in the Clifton section of the borough. The suspect, Joseph Pellegrino, was arrested two months later based on a “hit” in the DNA database. Had his DNA not been indicted, Pellegrino may well have never been held to account for his alleged crime.

The public is reminded than an indictment is merely an accusation, and that a defendant is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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