Man Accused Of Raping Woman After Offering Ride From LI Hospital: DA

PORT JEFFERSON, NY — A Coram man was indicted on Thursday, after he allegedly raped a woman to whom he had offered a ride home after being discharged from St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney announced.

Rupert Cruz, 63, was charged with first-degree predatory sexual assault, first-degree rape, first-degree sexual abuse, and second-degree strangulation, prosecutors said.

“This defendant allegedly preyed on the victim in order to violate her,” said District Attorney
Tierney. “We will pursue justice for the victim by making sure her alleged attacker is held
responsible and taken off the streets so he can no longer harm others.”

In June of this year, Cruz allegedly met the 32-year-old victim while they were both patients at St. Charles Hospital, according to the investigation. When both Cruz and the victim were being discharged, Cruz offered the victim a ride home and she accepted.

While the woman was in Cruz’s vehicle, he allegedly gave her a drink from an opened soda can.

Shortly after they left the hospital and while Cruz was still driving, Cruz allegedly began making sexual advances towards the woman, which she rejected.

The woman's friend called her during the time she was struggling with Cruz, and she could allegedly hear the woman screaming for help before the cell phone fell in between the seats of the vehicle.

Cruz then allegedly picked the victim up from the passenger seat and forced her on top of him while he was still seated in the driver’s seat, prosecutors said.

The woman did not remember anything after that and woke up naked the following morning in a wooded area at Bartlett Pond Park in Middle Island. She was in pain, with scratches and bruises on her body, red marks on her neck, and broken blood vessels in her eye.

She then located a few items of her clothing and left the park. Her phone allegedly remained in Cruz’s vehicle until its battery died, prosecutors said.

On June 15, the woman used a device finder through the Internet to locate her phone and allegedly traced it to Cruz’s residence in Coram. The woman reported the incident to the police, and Cruz was subsequently arrested on Sept. 8, prosecutors said.

“This defendant allegedly preyed on the victim in order to violate her,” said Tierney. “We will pursue justice for the victim by making sure her alleged attacker is held responsible and taken off the streets, so he can no longer harm others.”

On Sept. 21, Cruz was arraigned on the indictment before County Court Judge, the Honorable Karen M. Wilutis, who ordered that he be remanded without bail during the pendency of the case.

Cruz is due back in court on Oct. 4. Patch reached out to the Legal Aid Society, who is representing him, for comment.