DA: Alleged Serial Rapist Indicted

Today Silvio Raul Illescas, 40, of Elmsford, has been formally indicted by the Westchester County District Attorney on 28 counts, including eight counts of predatory sexual assault.

Illescas was most recently arrested on March 6 by Tarrytown Police following the alleged stabbing and attempted rape of a woman working as an escort at the DoubleTree Hotel. Local police soon connected him with a Greenburgh Police investigation into two similar and separate incidents in the Town of Greenburgh.

Now, a detailed release from the county District Attorney Janet DiFiore itemizes the long list of charges against the man allegedly responsible for four violent sexual assaults in Greenburgh, Yonkers and Tarrytown, starting with the first dating back to August, 2011.

The charges filed against Illescas today include:

• eight counts of Predatory Sexual Assault, class “A-2” Felonies,
• one count of Attempted Murder in the Second Degree, a class “B” Felony,
• four counts of Rape in the First Degree, class “B” Felonies,
• six counts of Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree, class “B” Felonies,
• one count of Robbery in the First Degree, a class “B” Felony,
• one count of Strangulation in the Second Degree, a class “C” Felony,
• one count of a Attempted Rape in the First Degree, a class “C” Felony,
• one count of Attempted Assault in the First Degree, a class “C” Felony,
• three counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree, class “D” Felonies,
• one count of Sex Abuse in the First Degree, a class “D” Felony,
• and one count of Unlawful Imprisonment in the First Degree, a class “E” Felony.

Following are the allegations from DiFiore's release:*

On August 9, 2011, at approximately 9:00p.m., in the first of the four sexual assaults, the defendant, asking for directions, approached a woman in the vicinity of Payne Street and Massaro Park in the Town of Greenburgh as she was walking home after getting off of work. He then grabbed the victim’s purse off of her shoulder and ordered her to get into his car or he would kill her. He then drove to a secluded area near a Home Depot store at Austin Avenue and Sprain Road in Yonkers where he choked and sexually assaulted her.

Approximately a year and a half later, on February 13, 2013, the second sexual assault occurred when the defendant responded to an escort advertisement that the victim posted on "backpage.com", an internet bulletin board site.

At approximately 10:00 p.m., the same day, the defendant met the victim in a hotel room that she had rented at the Westchester Marriott hotel in the Town of Greenburgh. Once inside the room, the defendant advised the victim that he wanted to have sex without wearing a condom. When the victim told the defendant that she would not have sex with him without a condom, the defendant attacked her, punching her in the head and then pressing a knife to her neck telling her that he would kill her if did not comply with what he wanted. A struggle ensued and the defendant choked her leaving serious bruise marks to the side of her neck.

The defendant then threatened the victim with a handgun and sexually assaulted her.

Before leaving, the defendant forcibly stole three cell phones that belonged to the victim and warned her that she should not report anything to the police.

Ten days later, on February 23, 2013, the defendant used one of the stolen cell phones and called another woman who had posted a similar advertisement for escort services on "backpage.com".

Shortly after midnight on that day, the defendant met the victim in her hotel room where she was staying at the DoubleTree hotel in the Village of Tarrytown.

While inside the hotel room the defendant pulled out a kitchen knife and approached this victim. With the knife inches from her face, the defendant told her that he wanted to have sex without a condom. When the victim said no, the defendant proceeded to jab the knife about the victim’s body, including her face, neck, and chest.

The defendant then attempted to sexually assault the victim. While the assault was going on, the victim managed to get off the bed and run towards the hotel room door. As she tried to open the door, the defendant came up behind her and stabbed her in the neck causing a serious laceration. Leaving the knife behind, the defendant fled.

Approximately eight days later, on March 3, 2013, the defendant used another phone stolen from the February 13th case to call a third woman who had also posted an advertisement for escort services on "backpage.com".

The defendant arranged to meet her at the La Quinta Hotel, located in the Town of Greenburgh. The defendant arrived at approximately midnight on March 3, 2013.

Once inside this victim’s room they agreed to engage in consensual sex, but when the defendant insisted that they have sex without a condom, the victim refused and advised the defendant that she did not want to have sex with him any longer. The defendant then pulled a knife, threatened the victim and sexually assaulted her.

Greenburgh police were contacted immediately after each incident and initiated an investigation. Detectives from the Greenburgh Police Department and the Tarrytown Police Department, the Westchester County Police Department working closely with the Sex Crimes Bureau of the DA’s office and forensic work by the Westchester County Lab in Valhalla were instrumental developing a suspect and ultimately in charging the defendant.

After the defendant was arrested by Greenburgh police on March 4th, 2013, detectives in communication with the DNA section of the Westchester County lab were able to link the case to the previously unsolved open case from 2011 using CODIS, the national DNA databank.

*Note: charges do not indicate convictions.

“If not for all four of these women immediately crying out, contacting police and helping with the investigation, this serial rapist, who was becoming increasingly more violent, would still be at large,” DiFiore said. “Aggressive detective work by both the Greenburgh and Tarrytown police departments and assiduous forensic analysis by the Westchester County Department of Labs and Research surely prevented more women from being victimized.”

Illescas is being held in Westchester County Jail. His next court appearance scheduled for April 23. If convicted for the predatory assault counts, he faces a maximum of 25 years to life in state prison.

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