Person-of-interest being questioned in 3 incidents of attempted rape in Queens
FOREST PARK, Queens (WABC) -- Police are questioning a person-of-interest in an attempted rape pattern in Queens that they believe are connected.
The NYPD picked up the person-of-interest on Friday morning near Myrtle Avenue and Park Lane South, which is on the outskirts of Forest Park.
The suspect in three attacks in Queens was nabbed after his stepfather saw him on surveillance video released by police, threw him out of his house and called police.
An image of the 22-year-old stepson captured on surveillance cameras was released to the media Thursday night following attacks on three women - including a 14 year old girl.
His stepfather was watching television at 5:30 a.m. Friday morning when he saw the surveillance video and confronted his stepson, according to Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison.
"The stepfather was watching one of the news channels, he sees the video that we put out through our RMA," Harrison said. "He realizes that the video that was being shared was his son. He engaged his son and asked him if that was him and the son said, yeah, that's him, and he threw him out of the house."
According to authorities, the first incident happened around 10:40 a.m. Thursday on 104th Street, where a male suspect approached a 20-year-old female from the front, put his arms around her and lifted her while grabbing her buttocks.
They say the victim resisted and the man fled on foot.
Nearly two hours later around 12:35 p.m., a 14-year-old female was also attacked by a male suspect on the corner of 84th Avenue and 118th Street, according to police.
They say he pushed her into bushes and attempted to remove her pants, but she managed to fight the suspect off, ran home and alerted family members.
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Just 30 minutes later around 1:05 p.m., officials say a 24-year-old woman was attacked by a suspect in Forest Park near Woodhaven Boulevard and Forest Park Drive, not too far from the second incident.
Police say the suspect took the victim's pants off, and as he attempted to remove the rest of her clothing, she fought him off and ran.
In all three incidents, the female victims were not injured.
Officials believe the three incidents are connected.
They describe the male suspect as 5'8'' in height with a slim build. He was wearing a t-shirt, beige cargo shorts and white sneakers.
So far, no charges have been filed against the person-of-interest.
Anyone with information in regard to 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 WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, or on Twitter @NYPDTips.
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