FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Sex Offender Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison
For Trying to Sexually Assault a Woman in Fort Greene
Defendant Followed Victim through Streets, Forced His Way into Apartment
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that a registered sex offender who tried to sexually assault a woman in Fort Greene by forcing his way into an apartment only to be scared away by her boyfriend has been sentenced to 13 years in prison following his conviction last month.
District Attorney Thompson said, “This defendant, who was already a registered sex offender at the time of this crime, clearly needs to be locked up because he is a danger to society.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as James Aroer, 40, of Fort Greene, Brooklyn. The defendant was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Cassandra Mullen to 13 years in prison followed by 20 years’ post-release supervision. He was convicted of second-degree burglary as a sexually motivated felony and first-degree sexual abuse on August 22, 2016 following a jury trial.
The District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, on July 16, 2015, at approximately 9 p.m., the victim went to a store on Myrtle Avenue and saw the defendant sitting on a bench. When she came out, the defendant was gone. As she walked from the store to her boyfriend’s home, she noticed the defendant following her. He tapped her on the shoulder and made a sexually crude comment to her. He continued to follow her, and as she opened the door to her boyfriend’s apartment, touched her buttocks and made another crude remark.
According to trial testimony, the defendant pushed his way into the apartment. The victim screamed for her boyfriend and when he replied, the defendant ran away. On July 20, 2015, the victim returned to the neighborhood and saw the defendant sitting on a bench on Myrtle Avenue. She called 911 and the police arrived and arrested the defendant.
At the time of the incident, the defendant was a registered sex offender following a 1998 conviction in Massachusetts for assault with intent to rape.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Gwen Barnes and Senior Assistant District Attorney Deborah Cohen, of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau, under the supervision of Miss Gregory, Chief.
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