(USNewsMag.com) – Prosecutors have charged an illegal immigrant in New York with raping a mother in front of her child. Jesus Guzman Bermudez from Venezuela was arrested for allegedly assaulting a woman at a hotel in Erie County on August 2. Her 3-year-old child was in the hotel room at the time of the alleged rape. The 26-year-old, who crossed the southern border illegally, was arraigned on August 4.
The accused was held without bail, and an order of protection was issued for the alleged victim. A statement from the District Attorney’s office confirmed that Bermudez has been charged with one count of Rape in the First Degree, one count of Unlawful Imprisonment in the Second Degree, one count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child, and one count of Harassment in the Second Degree. If convicted, the defendant faces a 25-year prison term.
District Attorney John Flynn appears to have publicly downplayed the seriousness of the incident because the two parties knew each other. “It wasn’t like an incident where this individual went out in town, grabbed some victims, and took them back to the hotel room,” he said. He went on to assure the local population that only four crimes have so far been reported from among the 500 recent arrivals, and this was the only serious offense.
Republicans, however, are furious and blame Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz for allowing unvetted migrants to take up residence in the area. The Republican Caucus of the Erie County Legislature said, “This problem is at our doorstep because the County Executive welcomed it.”
Hostility toward illegal immigrants is growing in Upstate New York as New York City’s Mayor sends buses of border crossers out of the Big Apple. Some towns and suburbs filed lawsuits against the Mayor and declared states of emergency as Adams shipped migrants to their areas without warning. However, a federal court overturned the emergency declarations, and Mayor Adams has restarted his migrant distribution.
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