Teen Accused Of Raping 82-Year-Old Brighton Beach Woman Arrested Friday Morning

The teen accused of raping an 82-year-old woman in her Brighton Beach home was arrested early Friday morning, police say.

Eighteen-year-old Asa Robert was apprehended at 3:45am on Putnam Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, according to police. Although in custody, police say charges are pending and the investigation is ongoing.

ABC 7 reports that Robert was caught while trying to climb a fence behind a school. His arrest concludes a large-scale manhunt in which the suspect narrowly escaped the police several times.

Robert is accused of sneaking into the Brighton Beach home of an 82-year-old woman while she was outside sweeping the street. According to police, he assaulted the woman at knifepoint when she returned to her bedroom, stayed with her for several hours after demanding cash, then raped her and fled.

City Councilman Chaim Deutsch, who represents the area where the crime occurred, has asked police to charge Robert with a bias crime, noting that the rape took place after the victim reportedly told her attacker she was Jewish.

“I am shocked and disgusted at the heinous and barbaric nature of this crime against an elderly woman,” Deutsch said in a statement.