Suspect in rape, kidnap indicted

01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, August 14, 2008



PROVIDENCE — Marco Riz, a Guatemalan immigrant accused of kidnapping and raping a woman at knifepoint in Roger Williams Park, was indicted yesterday on sexual assault, robbery and kidnapping charges.

A statewide grand jury handed up the indictment naming Riz, of 183 Linwood Ave., on two counts of first-degree sexual assault and one count each of first-degree robbery, kidnapping, assault with a dangerous weapon and second-degree carjacking.

The 26-year-old — who is in the country illegally — is accused of kidnapping a 30-year-old woman on June 8 outside a Warwick supermarket and raping her in Roger Williams Park. A task force of Providence and Warwick police, immigration officers, state police and federal marshals captured Riz a few days later on Linwood Avenue in Providence’s West End.

The case touched off a firestorm of debate in the media between Governor Carcieri and Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline last month.

The governor blamed the Providence police for releasing Riz twice last year after he was arrested on drunken-driving and domestic-assault charges. At the time, there was a federal deportation order in effect that called for Riz to be sent back to Guatemala.

The Riz case was a topic of conversation during Carcieri’s nationally-televised conversation with Fox News host Bill O’Reilly last month.

Carcieri told O’Reilly he feels the Cicilline administration is “not really interestedâ€