A man was arrested after being accused of raping a 13-year-old girl after being recognized by Queen residents from a wanted poster, who later took him into custody.
Christian Geovanny Inga-Landi, 25, faced a number of charges including rape, robbery, kidnapping, sexual abuse, threatening, unlawful imprisonment, among other charges, after he was detained by authorities.
The suspect was arrested early Tuesday after local community members recognized the man from a call for information from the NYPD.
23-year-old Angela Sauretti told Daily Monster He said he recognized the man in the black hoodie at the 108th Street Convenience Store in Queens with a friend at 1 a.m. on Tuesday.
“I pointed at him,” Sauretti said. “’Hey, is that the one?’ I said. [The friend] ‘Yes, that’, he said. This is what confirmed it. And everything spiraled from there.
After that, Sauretti said he caught the hooded man. “He tried to run away, so I tied him around his neck,” he said Daily Monster.
“He got something his mother had to make him,” he added. “This is how I’ll put it.”
Inga-Landi became a suspect in the NYPD after detectives learned that a 13-year-old boy and girl were threatened with a machete-style knife after school in Kissena Park last Thursday, CBS reported.
It is alleged that the teenagers’ wrists were tied together with shoelaces before the girl was sexually assaulted.
During Inga-Landi’s arrest on Tuesday, Sauretti explained that the man then continued to resist and protest.
“’Let me explain!’ said. ‘There is nothing to explain,’ I said. You’re a rapist,” he recalled to the outlet. “He said, ‘I don’t care.’ And I said, ‘What do you mean you don’t care? ‘You are a rapist.’ ‘I don’t care,’ he said.”
A group of residents reportedly tried to catch the man, as a 67-year-old woman kicked Inga-Landi and took off one of her shoes and hit him, media reported.
Jeffery Flores also said CBS News She was among those who stopped the man from going anywhere after he was spotted in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
“I came and took him out of the store because it made me angry, you know?” Flores told the outlet. “I have two little sisters. I’m having a daughter, you know? I couldn’t just walk away.
“After that, I’m not going to lie, everyone started beating him,” Flores added, saying they used belts to tie his legs.
Inga-Landi struggled to escape, losing his t-shirt and hoodie in the process and managed to crawl under a car.
“Like a cat,” Sauretti said Daily Monster, before NYPD officers arrived on the scene to arrest the man.
Sauretti told the press that detectives told the man’s captors that they had made a citizen’s arrest.
“We found that the community had the criminal in their hands,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
“At that time the community was trying to hold on to the perpetrator, they were waiting for the police, so he fought them and by the time we got there the community still managed to hold on to him.”
NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban added: “I especially want to thank New Yorkers. There is no greater force multiplier than the eyes and ears of a fully engaged public.”
“This is exactly what we mean when we say public safety is a public responsibility, and the last few days have proven once again that the people of the city can come together and get the job done like no one else.”
The NYPD offered a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the suspect’s arrest, but Sauretti said the money did not influence him in any way to help police find the rapist.
“Even if there was no reward, I would do it because at the end of the day, I feel like it’s the right thing to do,” he said. Daily Monster.
The suspect was treated at Elmhurst Hospital for minor injuries before being transported to the 112th Precinct.
After the attack in Kissena Park last week, the man allegedly took the teenager’s phones but left behind a shoelace, a red bandana and a water bottle. These are all being analyzed by authorities, according to CBS.
NYPD said Inga-Landi was an Ecuadorian father of two who crossed the border into Texas about three years ago.
He was arrested at the time for illegal entry into the United States, but was released pending processing.
“After waiving his Miranda rights, the perpetrator made statements stating that he had a drug problem, that he found the knife he used to threaten two young people, and that this was the first time he had done something like this,” said Kenny.
Rape Crisis offers support to those affected by rape and sexual abuse. You can call them in England and Wales on 0808 802 9999, in Scotland on 0808 801 0302 and in Northern Ireland on 0800 0246 991 or visit their website at: www.rapecrisis.org.uk. If you’re in the US, you can call Rainn at 800-656-HOPE (4673).