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UPDATE Charlotte Gardens: Man Sought for Questioning after Rape of 15-Year-Old Girl inside Apartment

THE NYPD IS asking for the public’s help identifying the person seen in this video who they say is wanted for questioning in connection with a rape that occurred in the vicinity of Prospect Avenue and East 170th Street in the Charlotte Gardens section of the Bronx on Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025. Video courtesy of the NYPD
Editor’s Note: Norwood News is officially on our annual summer hiatus. However, we are continuing to publish some ad hoc stories online that we couldn’t get to earlier this year. We hope you all get to enjoy the last few weeks of summer and thanks, as always, for reading. 

 

The NYPD is asking for the public’s help identifying the person seen in the attached video and photo who they say is wanted in connection for questioning with regard to a rape that occurred in the vicinity of the Charlotte Gardens section of the Bronx.

 

Police said that on Sunday, Aug. 10, at around 8 p.m., inside a home located in the vicinity of Prospect Avenue and East 170th Street, south of Crotona Park, an unidentified male raped a 15-year-old girl. “The individual fled the location in an unknown direction,” a police spokesperson said. “The victim was removed by private means to NYC Health and Hospitals / Lincoln in stable condition.

 

Police said the suspect is described as male, has a dark complexion, is around 17-19 years of age, is 5 feet, 8 inches tall, has a slim build, and was last seen wearing a gray, hooded sweatshirt, light-colored shorts, white shoes, and a white knit hat.  

Wilfredo Hierrzuelo, a candidate for City Council District 18, currently represented by City Council Majority Leader Amanda Farías, and where the incident took place, said the victim is his cousin was just a child who was brutally violated. “This isn’t just another crime statistic, this is my family,” he said. “I have been demanding tougher laws for years. Enough is enough; predators must be held fully accountable, without excuses.”

 

No charges have been brought against the sought individual and he is deemed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.

THE NYPD IS asking for the public’s help identifying the person seen in this photo who they say is wanted for questioning in connection with a rape that occurred in the vicinity of Prospect Avenue and East 170th Street in the Charlotte Gardens section of the Bronx on Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025.
Photo courtesy of the NYPD

The latest statistics for rape and other major crimes in the 42nd Precinct, where this incident occurred, are attached, and show an overall decline in rape both in the last month and since the beginning of the year compared to the same timeframes in 2024.

 

Across The Bronx as a whole, rapes have risen by 20.7% in the 28-day period ending Aug. 10, compared to the same timeframe last year, and they have risen by 29.2% year-to-date as of Aug. 10, compared to the same timeframe last year. See more here.

 

Those who work with victims of sexual violence say such victims do not always come forward to report the crimes for various reasons including fear of not being believed, intimidation, trauma, fear of police, and other factors.

 

As reported, nine men and a woman were recently indicted on various charges including rape, sex trafficking and promoting prostitution on various occasions in New York State, including in the Eastchester section of The Bronx and in Atlantic City, NJ. Meanwhile, in April, a man was arrested in Fordham Heights for attempted rape and in June 2024, police arrested a male person of interest sought for attempted rape in Woodlawn Heights.

 

Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced Aug. 15 that a Yonkers woman who worked as a guidance counselor at a Bronx high school has been indicted on third-degree rape, and additional charges for repeatedly having sex with a teenage boy who was a student in her school.

 

In Manhattan, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr., recently penned an op-ed in the New York Daily News recently affirming that rape is rape, and underscoring the realities of the D.A.’s Office’s rape prosecutions.

 

“Too frequently, sex crimes are only covered if they involve a celebrity, or if they conjure the deep-seated horror of a random attack by a stranger who jumps from the shadows. […] But so-called stranger rapes comprise less than half of our docket,” he said. “The ink and airtime dedicated to those disturbing cases is wholly disproportionate to the rape cases we see, tragically, on a regular basis. And crucially, I believe, that hurts our efforts to encourage survivors to come forward about these consistently under-reported crimes.”

MAJOR CRIME STATISTICS for the 42nd Precinct for the 28-day period ending Aug. 10, 2025, compared to the same timeframe last year (left), and year-to-date major crime statistics for the 42nd Precinct as of Aug. 10, 2025, compared to last year (right). This precinct covers some or all of the Morrisania section of the Bronx, including Claremont, Crotona Park East, and Crotona Park.
Source: NYPD

Underscoring the facts about rape cases, Bragg said, “Sexual assault and rape are typically committed by someone the survivor knows. Sometimes that means an acquaintance from their neighborhood or workplace. Sometimes that means a date. Often, that means a current or former intimate partner, which is exactly why, when I created the Manhattan district attorney office’s first Special Victims Division, we combined our sex crimes and domestic violence practices into one Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Bureau.”

 

He continued, “Rape takes many forms which rarely make headlines. I want to affirm to survivors that my office’s Special Victims Division knows that, and knows that rape is rape. Whether it happens in a long-term consensual relationship. Whether it takes years to come forward. Whether money exchanges hands. Whether alcohol or substances were involved. Simply put, rape is rape.”

 

Bragg concluded, “I am consistently inspired by the survivors that [come forward] to secure justice in their case and, as we consistently hear, to stand up for other survivors. I want survivors to know that regardless of the form it takes, rape is rape. And we are here to help.” Read the full op-ed here.

 

Contact numbers at the Bronx District Attorneys Office, including one for victims of sex crimes, are included below:

Department Phone #
General Information 718-590-2000
Bias Hotline 718-590-BIAS (2427)
Child Abuse/Sex Crimes Hotline 718-838-7344
Civilian Complaint Unit 718-590-2300
Community Engagement Unit 718-590-2272
Crime Victims Assistance Bureau 718-590-2115
Domestic Violence 718-838-6688
Elder Abuse 718 590-2260
Immigrant Affairs Unit 844-590-SCAM (7226)
Communications/Public Information 718-590-2234
U-VISA Hotline 718-590-VISA (8472)

 

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on X @NYPDTips.

 

All calls are strictly confidential.

Editor’s Note: In a previous version of this story, we reported that the nine men and one woman were charged in relation to offenses allegedly carried out in the vicinity of Charlotte Gardens in The Bronx. In fact, the crimes took place in various locations throughout New York, including in the Eastchester section of The Bronx and in Atlantic City, NJ. We also reported earlier that rape had declined overall in The Bronx as of Aug. 10 but in fact, it has risen. This has since been corrected. We apologize for these errors. 

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.

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