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May 17, 2003

Man grilled in rape of deaf-mute

From: New York Daily News, NY - May 17, 2003

By LEO STANDORA DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Cops questioned a suspect last night in the brutal gang-rape of a deaf Brooklyn woman as the hunt for her assailants focused on three more men.

Investigators declined to give any details about the suspect brought to the 75th Precinct stationhouse late yesterday.

They said only that he was picked up based on tips and information gathered in a canvass of the East New York neighborhood where the rape occurred Wednesday.

The 21-year-old victim was confronted on her way to a dance class by one or two men and pulled into a vacant building on Blake Ave. about 3 p.m.

Two other men entered the building through an unlocked cellar door, and all four raped the woman, police said.

The woman, who was unable to scream for help, told detectives what happened Thursday in sign language translated by family members.

People who live near the property, which is owned by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, complained that it has been a magnet for troublemakers, most of them teens.

HUD spokesman Adam Glantz said the agency is investigating why the building wasn't boarded up tight.

He said inspectors who check it weekly were there as recently as Monday but found nothing amiss. Workers went to the building yesterday and "put on a reinforced basement door to make it secure," he said.

With Martin Mbugua

All contents © 2002 Daily News, L.P.