Kid-raping baby-sitter convicted
THE MAN accused of renting a truck and cutting a path of destruction along a lower Manhattan bike path pleaded not guilty Tuesday in the deaths of eight people killed in the Halloween terror attack.
Sayfullo Saipov was charged Nov. 21 with eight counts of murder in aid of racketeering for the bloody truck attack along the shoulder of the West Side Highway.
The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office has also charged Saipov with 12 counts of attempted murder in aid of racketeering.
He also faces one count of providing and attempting to provide material support to ISIS, and one count of violence and destruction of a motor vehicle, according to court documents.
Saipov, 29, could face the death penalty for nine of the 22 counts.
When Manhattan Federal Judge Vernon Broderick asked Saipov’s lawyer, David Patton, how he pleaded, Patton said, “Not guilty.”
Saipov, who walked into the courtroom with a stiff gait, was provided with an Uzbek interpreter during the brief proceeding.
He had a thick beard and appeared thinner than he was on the day of the attack.
Saipov is accused of driving a rental truck from New Jersey over the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan and then traveling south on the West Side Highway on Oct. 31 bent on murder. When Saipov got to Houston St., he drove the truck onto the Hudson River bike and pedestrian path , prosecutors said.
Saipov then mowed down numerous people, ultimately crashing into an occupied school bus near West and Chambers Sts., according to court papers.
After smashing into the bus, Saipov bounded out of the flatbed, pulled out a pellet and a paintball gun, and chanted “Allahu akbar,” the feds allege. An NYPD officer shot and subdued Saipov.
Cops later discovered two mobile phones and a stun gun in the vehicle. One of the cell phones was packed with some 90 ISIS videos, according to prosecutors.
They also came across a note near the truck that read, “No God but God and Muhammad is his Prophet,” as well as “Islamic Supplication. It will endure” written in Arabic, prosecutors said.
After Saipov was nabbed, he asked for the ISIS flag to be put up in his hospital room, court documents said. His request was not granted. Officials said Saipov celebrated his evil act after he was arrested.
The accused terrorist chose Halloween for the attack because he knew lots of people would be out and about, investigators said.
Saipov “wanted to kill as many people as he could,” according to a criminal complaint.
Authorities said Saipov planned on continuing to the Brooklyn Bridge with the truck.
Saipov moved to the United States legally in 2010 from Uzbekistan.
Saipov rented the truck from a Home Depot store in Passaic, N.J. He signed it out for two hours, but had no intention of bringing it back, officials said.
Among those killed in the attack were a group of Argentines who had traveled to New York to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their high school graduation. A MANHATTAN baby-sitter was convicted of raping two children and recording the depravity, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Milton Narvaez, 35, was found guilty in Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday.
Beginning in February 2008, Narvaez molested a 6-year-old boy for six years, prosecutors said.
His other victim, a little girl who was seen on a video, and whose identity remains a mystery is believed to be as young as 7 years old.
She was abused at the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church in Midtown in October 2011, where Narvaez worked as a janitor.
“As a baby-sitter and custodian with access to children, Milton Narvaez abused his position to rape two children, before further exploiting them by recording video of the acts,” Manhattan DA Cy Vance Jr. said.
It took a jury an hour to convict Narvaez of predatory sex assault, promoting sexual performance by a child, sex abuse and possessing a sexual performance by a child.
He faces a maximum of 25 years to life in prison.
“The children of this city will be safer with Milton Narvaez out of our homes and churches,” Vance said.