Man Charged With 3 Attempted Rapes In Central Queens: DA

KEW GARDENS, QUEENS — A Richmond Hill man has been arrested in connection with a series of attempted sexual assaults on two women and a 14-year-old girl last week in Central Queens, prosecutors announced.

Makijah Lino, 22, is accused of preying on three different people in rapid succession Thursday, each time grabbing at them and trying to pull off their clothes, the Queens District Attorney's Office said in a news release.

He was arraigned Saturday on charges of attempted sexual abuse, forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child, prosecutors said.

The first attack unfolded about 10:40 a.m. in Richmond Hill. A 20-year-old woman was walking near 104th Street and Jamaica Avenue when Lino is accused of grabbing her buttocks and picking her up, though she managed to get away, prosecutors said.

Two hours later, Lino is accused of grabbing a 14-year-old girl near 118th Street and 84th Avenue in Kew Gardens, knocking her into a hedge, then pulling at her clothes and trying to unfasten her pants, prosecutors said. The teen fought back and he ran away.

Then, just a half-hour later, Lino is accused of pouncing on a 24-year-old jogger in Forest Park, throwing her to the ground and trying to pull down her pants. She struggled and he ran away.

Police arrested Lino the next day, after circulating surveillance images of him, according to prosecutors.

"We are all entitled to expect our city parks and their surroundings to be safe places for our families and ourselves," Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement. "The three females allegedly preyed upon by this defendant — one of them a teenager, all of whom we believe were randomly chosen — certainly had the right to such expectations."

If convicted, Lino faces up to four years in prison.