Queens man arrested in Astoria elevator sex assault

QUEENS (WABC) -- Police have arrested the man they identified last week as the suspect in a sex assault inside an elevator in Queens.

Elvis McKenzie, 27, allegedly followed a 53-year-old woman into her apartment building in Astoria around 11:30 a.m. last Monday.

Authorities say he punched and choked her, then tried to sexually assault her. The victim screamed, and the suspect fled on foot.

McKenzie, of Flushing, is charged with first-degree attempted rape, second-degree assault and criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation.

"The defendant is accused of following his victim like a predator and waiting until she was isolated and trapped inside an elevator before attempting to sexually assault her," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. "The fact that the alleged attack took place in her own residence must have only added to the victim's frightening ordeal. The offenses that the defendant is charged with committing are crimes of violence that pose a serious threat to public safety and, as such, warrant, punishment by a lengthy prison term."

McKenzie faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted, and he was ordered held on $200,000 bail and to return to court on June 23, 2014. He is a Level 2 sex offender with a prior conviction for sexually abusing a 26-year-old woman in White Plains in 2007. He served three years behind bars.

He has at least eight prior arrests since 2006, including charges of assault, gang assault, robbery, theft of service, criminal possession of stolen property and attempted robbery. His most recent arrest came in 2012.