Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Rupert Cruz, 63, of Coram, was indicted for Predatory Sexual Assault, Rape, Sexual Abuse, and Strangulation, after he allegedly raped a woman to whom he had offered a ride home after being discharged from a hospital.
“This defendant allegedly preyed on the victim in order to violate her,” said District Attorney Tierney. “We will pursue justice for the victim by making sure her alleged attacker is held responsible and taken off the streets so he can no longer harm others.”
According to the investigation, Cruz allegedly met the 32-year-old victim in June 2023 while they were both patients at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson. When both Cruz and the victim were being discharged, Cruz offered the victim a ride home and she accepted. While the victim was in Cruz’s vehicle, he allegedly gave her a drink from an opened soda can.
Shortly after they left the hospital and while Cruz was still driving, Cruz allegedly began making sexual advances towards the victim, which she rejected. The victim’s friend called her during the time she was struggling with the defendant, and she could allegedly hear the victim screaming for help before the victim’s cell phone fell in between the seats of the vehicle.
Cruz allegedly picked the victim up from the passenger seat and forced her on top of him while he was still seated in the driver’s seat. The victim did not remember anything after that and woke up naked the following morning in a wooded area at Bartlett Pond Park in Middle Island. The victim was in pain, with scratches and bruises on her body, red marks on her neck, and broken blood vessels in her eye. The victim then located a few items of her clothing and left the park. The victim’s phone allegedly remained in Cruz’s vehicle until its battery died.
On June 15, 2023, the victim used a device finder through the Internet to locate her phone and allegedly traced it to Cruz’s residence in Coram. The victim reported the incident to the police, and Cruz was subsequently arrested on September 8, 2023.
On September 21, 2023, Cruz was arraigned on the indictment before County Court Judge, the Honorable Karen M. Wilutis, for the following charges:
- Predatory Sexual Assault in the First Degree, a Class A-II violent felony;
- Rape in the First Degree, a Class B violent felony;
- Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, a Class D violent felony; and
- Strangulation in the Second Degree, a Class D violent felony.
Judge Wilutis ordered that Cruz be remanded without bail during the pendency of the case. Cruz is due back in court on October 4, 2023, and he is being represented by the Legal Aid Society.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Danielle Carter of the Major Crime Bureau, with investigative assistance from Detective Travis Pfeffer of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Sixth Squad.
Criminal complaints and indictments are merely accusatory instruments. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.