Two Riverside Park Sex Offenders Indicted by D.A.

Two men arrested by the NYPD for four separate sex crimes in or around Riverside Park this summer have been formally indicted by the Manhattan D.A.

The indictments of thirty-two year-old Luc Tassiem Noubissi and twenty-one year-old Jhonatan Cortes-Lopez were released separately, as the alleged assaults don’t appear to be coordinated.

Noubissi’s indictment, handed down on August 10, describes an incident near the W. 60th St. border of the park on July 20 (the West Side Spirit previously reported that NYPD officers had it as occurring near W. 59th St.) He was hit with four felonies ranging from attempted rape to sex abuse.

New details by the D.A.’s office describe Noubissi allegedly stopping a woman his age and “insisting” that she talk to him, before groping her and attempting to remove her dress when she refused. He reportedly broke a strap on her dress in the process, in addition to yanking her hair and grabbing her phone when she attempted to call 911. After a struggle between the two, Noubissi fled and was arrested later that day by the NYPD’s Special Victims Unit.

The victim hailed down passerby to contact the authorities due to Noubissi allegedly taking her phone with him back to his apartment, which police reportedly seized during a search warrant.

“Particularly in the warm summer months, New Yorkers need to know they can safely use our city’s many beautiful waterfront parks,” D.A. Alvin Bragg said of the Noubissi indictment.

Cortes-Lopez’s August 15 indictment notes his alleged actions are being considered a “pattern” of sex assaults. Cortes-Lopez also faces a battery of felony charges similar to Noubissi’s, as well as a forcible touching charge.

The first incident in the “pattern” occurred on June 25 around 5:25 p.m., when Cortes-Lopez allegedly rode his bike past a twenty-one year-old woman walking on W. 111th St. near Amsterdam Ave., roughly two blocks from Riverside Park. He reportedly “dismounted” the bike before groping her, and in a new detail provided by the indictment continued to follow her until she reached a security guard in the area. The woman reported the incident to the NYPD’s 16th Precinct.

According to the D.A., two more incidents allegedly involving Cortes-Lopez occurred on July 18 within Riverside Park. During the first, at approximately 4:40 p.m., he reportedly approached a nineteen year-old woman talking on the phone and made a “lewd comment” before groping her.

Just over five hours later at around 9:45 p.m., Cortes-Lopez reportedly attempted to block a 38 year-old woman jogging in the park with his bike before grabbing her wrists and forcing her to the ground. As per the indictment, he then attempted to rape her. After the woman fought back and screamed, Cortes-Lopez eventually fled.

Cortes-Lopes was arrested on July 21 by the NYPD’s Special Victims Squad. D.A. Bragg noted that he believed his alleged sex crimes were “disturbing attacks.”