A Port Chester man already facing sex abuse charges on Long Island was arrested after an alleged sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl at Rye Town Park last week.
Richard Olmino, 21, was taken into custody Saturday night and Rye police Commissioner Michael Kopy said Olmino is also a suspect in at least one other similar attack in the city this month.
“Clearly this individual has a history of predatory sexual behavior,” Kopy said at a City Hall press conference when asked if he thinks there are other victims. “We’ve seen what happened in a very quick period of time in this area.”
Detectives had begun an investigation after an 18-year-old woman reported being attacked by a man who approached her on Playland Parkway near Rye High School early on June 3 and assaulted her.
When police publicized that incident looking for tips, a 15-year-old girl came forward with her mother to report that she had been similarly approached a month earlier on Milton Road after separating from her friends. She said she grew concerned, rejoined her friends and police said no crime was committed at that time
Late Thursday night Olmino allegedly began speaking with the 16-year-old who was jogging near Rye Town Park. He then tackled her and sexually abused her at knifepoint before fleeing when a security guard who heard the girl’s screams approached.
Working with Westchester County police and the FBI, detectives identified Olmino as a suspect the following day, set up surveillance near his home on King Street and took him into custody
Olmino was charged with first-degree sexual abuse, a felony punishable by up to seven years in state prison. He was arraigned in Rye City Court on Sunday and ordered held at the Westchester County jail until his next court appearance on Tuesday.
He had been free on bail after being charged with first-degree criminal sexual act in Suffolk County in November for an incident while he and friends were staying in Easthampton.
Kopy expressed frustration that during the 3-week investigation detectives were looking into men in the region with histories of sexual crimes but had been unaware that Olmino had been freed on bail in Suffolk County and landed in the next community.
Olmino was working as a landscaper for a local company, Kopy said. But a LinkedIn page also identifies Olmino, a 2019 graduate of Port Chester, as a undergraduate student at NYU Stern School of Business with experience in recent years in the financial industry.
Detectives are asking anyone with additional information about Olmino or similar incidents to call Rye police at 914-967-1234.