Previously Convicted Sex Offender Sentenced For Raping Woman: Suffolk DA

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — A 65-year-old man, who is a previously convicted sex offender, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 34-year-old woman, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney announced Tuesday.

Rupert Cruz, 65, of Coram, pleaded guilty to first-degree rape, Tierney said. He also faces 10 years of post-release supervision.

"This sexual predator was 63 years old and had a prior forcible rape conviction and multiple failures to register as a sex offender, when he targeted, drugged and violently attacked this woman," Tierney said in a news release. "Sexual predators are dangerous no matter their age. Tragically, under the pending Elder Parole bill in the New York State legislature, offenders just like this defendant would be given early parole hearings, putting vulnerable victims at risk. It is time for our legislature to start prioritizing victims over criminals."

In June 2023, Cruz met the then-32-year-old woman while they were both patients at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson, according to court documents. When Cruz and the woman were discharged, Cruz offered her a ride home, which she accepted, authorities said. While the woman was in Cruz’s vehicle, he gave her a drink from an opened soda can, officials said.

While Cruz was driving, he began making sexual advances towards the victim, which she rejected, prosecutors said.

Cruz picked the woman up from the passenger seat and forced her on top of him while he was still seated in the driver’s seat, investigators said. The woman did not remember anything after that, authorities said.

The woman's friend called her while she was struggling with Cruz, and the friend could hear the woman screaming for help, officials said.

The woman woke up naked the following morning in a wooded area in Bartlett Pond Park in Middle Island, prosecutors said. She was in pain, with scratches and bruises on her body, red marks on her neck, and broken blood vessels in her eye, investigators said. The woman then found a few items of her clothing and left the park, authorities said.

Afterwards, the woman went to Stony Brook Hospital where she underwent a sexual assault nurse
examination, the DA said. A male DNA profile was found on the vaginal swab taken during the examination, prosecutors said.

The DNA profile was a direct hit to Cruz’s record on file with the New York State DNA Database, Tierney said.

Cruz was placed under arrest by members of the Suffolk County Police Department in September 2023, officials said.

Cruz has prior convictions for failure to register as a sex offender in 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2018, the DA said.

In 1987, he was convicted of first-degree rape, first-degree sexual abuse, and first-degree attempted coercion, the DA said. He served time in prison until he was released to parole in October 1996, officials said.

On June 13, Cruz pleaded guilty to first-degree rape, the DA's office stated.

He was sentenced Tuesday and was represented by Ian Fitzgerald.