Police arrest suspect in rape of woman on the Upper West Side
UPPER WEST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) -- Police say they've made in an arrest in the search for a suspected rapist who followed a woman into her Upper West Side apartment building early Saturday.
Jamel McIver was held without bail Monday after appearing before a judge on several charges including rape and sexually motivated burglary.
Authorities say he was caught Sunday afternoon, hours after his photo was distributed to the media when his step-family recognized him and called police.
Surveillance video from the scene near West 65th Street and West End Avenue showed the accused sexual predator.
A 21-year-old woman told police the man followed her into the building early Saturday morning. Officials say he forced her out of an elevator and into a stairwell at around 1:20 a.m.
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The woman says after the rape, the man forced her back onto the street and ran off.
McIver already has an attempted rape case pending from 2019, when he broke into a sleeping 16-year-old girl's Bronx bedroom. He was caught in that case following a tip from neighbors and is due back in court March 29.
When McIver was initially arrested in 2019, bail was set at $250,000. But he was released on his own recognizance in March 2020 after prosecutors failed to act in time under the speedy trial law.
He was given a second chance and offered a no jail plea if he completed two years of treatment. He accepted, knowing that if he failed, he would be sent to prison the full five years.
His arrest on the Upper West Side violates the treatment program, and the Bronx district attorney's office will request he appear in court Tuesday to revert him to his full five year sentence.
McIver has eight prior arrests from between 2017 and 2019 and lives in housing for homeless people with disabilities in East Harlem.
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