Suspect accused in rape at Kips Bay sports bar bathroom arraigned, held without bail

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A suspect facing rape charges in an attack on a woman in a Manhattan bar bathroom was arraigned and held without bail Thursday.

"You have seen him here?" Eyewitness News asked.

"Yeah," a neighborhood resident said.

You see, Rodney Stover was a regular at the homeless shelter roughly two months ago.

He left prison and checked into the facility on East 30th Street.

"I seen him for three weeks. He was here for three weeks or three weeks ago, back and forth, yeah back and forth," he said.

But in that short time, Stover has once again ended up behind bars, this time for allegedly raping a woman inside a bar.

Police say surveillance cameras captured the suspect walking into the Turnmill Saturday night.

Sources say he hid in a stall in the ladies bathroom, grabbed the 23-year-old victim by her neck, and covered her mouth, told her he was going to kill her, raped her, and then took off.

The owner of the bar says he spotted Stover Wednesday, walking right by the bar, followed him and called police, who took the 48-year-old into custody.

Stover faced a judge who ordered him held without bail.

The suspect was picked out of a lineup by the victim.

Sources tell Eyewitness News that the entire time the suspect was violating the victim, her boyfriend was sitting upstairs, in the back of the bar, completely unaware of what was happening.

"We have a lot of work to do, we have a lot of investigating to do, we've entered a plea of not guilty I would ask everyone to reserve judgment till all the facts are in," said Seth Gross, Stover's defense attorney.

This isn't the first time Stover has been arrested for such a violent crime. He is already in the system as a level 3 sex offender.

In 1998, he served time for trying to rape a topless dancer in Pittsburgh.

In 1992, armed with a knife, he raped a woman inside her home in South Hampton. He served nearly 19 year behind bars.

While locked up, he was denied early release six times. The parole board decided letting him out would be "incompatible with the welfare and safety of the community."

Stover's next court date is April 21.