Thread: PA: Mex rapist of 72yr old woman, gets 15yrs & deportati

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Man sentenced for assault on woman

Brutal attack leads to jail

By: MARGARET GIBBONS
The Intelligencer

The man convicted of sexually assaulting an elderly Hatboro woman received up to 15 years in state prison and will be deported back to Mexico when he is released.

The "dream" to become a success in the United States ended Wednesday in a Montgomery County courtroom for a Mexican citizen who brutally assaulted an elderly Hatboro woman in her home.

Judge William J. Furber sentenced Enrique S. Perez, 39, formerly of Upper Moreland, to 7 1/2 to 15 years in a state prison for the September 2007 assault.

Once he is paroled, Perez will be deported to Mexico.

"I feel very bad, very sorry for what I did," Perez, dressed in a blue county prison uniform, told the court.

Defense attorney Craig T. Hosay said his client has been remorseful since the start "for all the pain he caused the victim and those who knew her." The woman, in her 70s, died a few months after the attack, from natural causes.

Perez, who was legally in the United States under a work visa, also now realizes "his whole future that he sought in the United States has been torn away from him as a result of his own actions," according to Hosay.

The judge's sentence, which is tougher than that called for under state sentencing recommendations, was already hammered out by Hosay and county Assistant District Attorney Todd Stephens prior to the sentence.

It would have been a challenge to prosecute the case to the full extent of the law because the victim died of natural causes in December 2007, said Stephens, explaining why he agreed to the sentence.

"Anyway, I don't think the law allows for the punishment that would fit this crime," said Stephens.

As far as protecting the community, Perez will be locked up for up to 15 years and then immediately deported "and then it is up to the Border Patrol to keep him from coming back," said Stephens.

The 74-year-old woman, described as "exceptionally frail" by prosecutors, was attacked in her home on West Lehman Avenue during the early morning hours of Sept. 18, 2007.

The woman was sitting at her kitchen table, enjoying a cup of coffee and a bowl of ice cream when a man, later identified as Perez, burst through the door and dragged her outside into her backyard.
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Perez first attempted to rape her and, when he was unsuccessful, sexually assaulted her.

After terrorizing the woman for about an hour, Perez dragged her back, slamming her down on the porch and then throwing her onto the floor in her kitchen before leaving.

Armed with a description of the then-unidentified attacker and other details that included he smelled of alcohol and had fled toward the Robert Bruce apartment complex, authorities created a 50-plus member task force that included county detectives and police from municipalities from both Montgomery and Bucks Counties to canvas the area.

Authorities received information that there had been a sexually aggressive man matching that description in a Hatboro bar earlier that morning and that the man had indicated he was living at the Robert Bruce complex.

Focusing their attention on the complex, authorities took DNA swabs of any resident matching the description of the attacker. Eight swabs, all voluntary, were taken including one provided by Perez.

At the same time, a Hatboro woman, learning of the attack on the older woman, contacted police to report that she had heard footsteps on her roof at about 2:45 a.m. that same morning. Later that morning, this woman discovered a "love letter" written in both English and Spanish on the wall above her mailbox.

This woman told police she suspected that the man on her roof and the author of the letter were the same person, Enrique Perez. Perez worked at a Mexican restaurant which she frequented and "had made her feel uncomfortable" in the past, according to the criminal complaint.

A forensic laboratory performing the swab testing determined that Perez' DNA matched that of the elderly woman's attacker.

Perez, who also worked a landscaping job, was picked up at a job site and arrested.

Following the woman's death, Perez' defense attorney made an unsuccessful attempt to get the charges against his client thrown out.

Perez last November subsequently pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and simple assault.

Margaret Gibbons can be reached at 610-279-6153 or mgibbons@phillyBurbs.com.

June 04, 2009 02:20 AM

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/t ... o-jail.htm

Perez first attempted to rape her and, when he was unsuccessful, sexually assaulted her.

After terrorizing the woman for about an hour, Perez dragged her back, slamming her down on the porch and then throwing her onto the floor in her kitchen before leaving.

This calls for alot more than 15 measly years! Perez needs to stay in prison until he rots.

Focusing their attention on the complex, authorities took DNA swabs of any resident matching the description of the attacker. Eight swabs, all voluntary, were taken including one provided by Perez.

The IA huggers didn't cry 'Racial Profiling'?