970x125
A Georgia man was arrested this week nearly three decades after he allegedly invaded five women’s Queens homes and brutally raped them — in some cases at gunpoint or with their kid in the next room, according to authorities.
Michael Benjamin, 57, was cuffed Thursday morning after DNA evidence from a discarded cup linked him to numerous “violent” rapes in southeast Queens between 1995 and 1997, according to prosecutors and police sources.
He was first apprehended on Sept. 22 where he lives in Conyers, Ga. Investigators had collected his DNA from a cup he left inside the Rockdale County Sheriff’s office and then matched the sample to DNA evidence from the separate rape cases, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.
Benjamin was extradited to the Big Apple on Wednesday and booked on charges including rape in the first degree, sodomy in the first degree, sexual assault in the first degree, and burglary in the first degree, prosecutors said.
More than 30 years ago, in July 1995, Benjamin allegedly broke into the home of a 24-year-old woman near 113th Road and 194th Street in St. Albans and pulled a sheet over her head while raping her, according to law enforcement sources.
He then fled the home with her cash and jewelry, prosecutors said.
About a year later, in August 1996, he allegedly entered a home on 140th Avenue and South Conduit Avenue around 2 a.m. and covered a 27-year-old woman’s head with a jacket before raping her, sources said.
He then went room to room and snatched items from the home, while threatening the victim not to look at him, sources added.
In the third incident, Benjamin allegedly raped a 21-year-old woman in September 1996 as she walked home near 131st Street and Hook Creek Boulevard.
He allegedly grabbed her and forced her through a back entrance into her residence at gunpoint before shutting off the lights and raping her as he threatened to kill her husband and child, who were home at the time of the heinous act, authorities and sources said.
In February 1997, he then allegedly raped a 21-year-old and a 33-year-old woman after breaking into the back of a home holding a gun near 241st Street and 136th Avenue, authorities said.
He drank and ate food from the home before fleeing the scene with cash and jewelry, according to prosecutors and sources.
A bald, glasses-wearing Benjamin screamed that he was innocent Thursday on his way to court from a Bronx precinct, where the Special Victims Division DNA Cold Case Squad is located.
“I didn’t do this. I didn’t do none of this. What victims? I didn’t do nothing. I didn’t do this. What y’all talking about?” he yelled out to reporters.
The alleged brute relocated to Georgia sometime after the incidents, sources said.
He was pre-indicted for the five rapes as a John Doe in 2002, which prevented the statute of limitations from running out on prosecuting the case, sources added.
The suspect’s attorney, Joseph Amsel, said the pre-indictment goes against the statute of limitations.
“It would appear that most of this conduct — if not all of it — is well outside the applicable statute of limitations, which exists for a reason because it is fundamentally unfair to require somebody to defend themselves against the charge going back 30 years ago,” Amsel said.
“And the fact of the matter is, is that he denies the allegations wholeheartedly, and he’s looking forward to his day in court,” he added.
Benjamin is already a level 3 sex offender after he was convicted of a July 1990 attempted rape, according to public records.
He received five years’ probation for the case.
The alleged rapist was ordered held without bail at his arraignment on Thursday on a 17-count indictment in Queens Criminal Court, authorities said.
“After several decades, this defendant will finally face charges of violently raping at least five women, some at gunpoint, between the years 1995 and 1997 in southeast Queens,” Katz said in a statement.
“Although decades have passed, these cold cases were not forgotten. Thanks to the bravery of the
victims, vital DNA evidence was gathered, which helped law enforcement identify the person responsible.
It is never too late for justice, and I thank my prosecutors and the detectives for their work on this case.”
If convicted of the top charges, Benjamin faces up to 25 years in prison.
He will return to court on Dec. 5.
