Rape ‘dance’
Suit: Money big assaulted Penthouse stripper
AN ELDERLY WOMAN was fatally mowed down by a hit-and-run driver steps from her Bronx home Friday night, police said.
Hilda Arocho, 82, was headed across Pitman Ave. near Gunther Ave. in Wakefield when she was hit by a white Dodge Enterprise rental van around 9:10 p.m., police said.
She was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center in critical condition where she died, according to authorities.
“She was crossing the street from her daughter’s like she did every night,” said one neighbor who declined to give his name. “She was a great lady.”
The driver got out of his van, eyed Arocho’s crumpled body and ran off, according to the neighbor.
“He looked like he wanted to touch her. Then he got on his phone,” he said. “(Arocho’s) daughter came out of the house enraged. She was screaming. He (the driver) blended into the crowd and took off.”
Another witness, who wouldn’t give his name, said that he heard the van strike Arocho.
“It was crazy,” he said. “There was a boom. I heard her scream. She was on the ground behind the van. He gets out and runs off.”
Cops are still searching for the driver. A FINANCIAL ANALYST is accused of raping a stripper during a private dance at the Penthouse Executive Club.
Patrick Dinneen asked the woman for a private dance at the Hell’s Kitchen strip club about 11:30 p.m. on April 29, according to a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court Friday. The woman agreed and they went to a private room.
Dinneen, 35, closed the door and the woman started dancing when he “unzipped his pants and pulled out his penis,” the suit claims.
The woman, who is in her 30s, told him to “put his penis back in his pants and that she was going to stop the dance because she was uncomfortable,” according to the suit.
Dinneen then “jumped” on top of the woman, who was “yelling and screaming for help and telling (Dinneen) to stop and get off of her” and let her leave, the woman claimed in court papers.
He kept her on her back and raped her, she alleged. She tried to fight him off for over two minutes, the accuser said in the suit.
“At this point, defendant Dinneen stopped struggling with (her) for a moment and then (she) pushed defendant Dinneen and ran to the door,” she says.
Someone opened the door and club staffers helped her get away, she claimed in the suit.
The suit, which also names the club for failing to provide adequate security, seeks unspecified damages.
Dinneen could not be reached on Friday. The club did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dinneen has not been charged with a crime.
The Daily News is withholding the accuser’s name due to the nature of the allegations.
Police sources say the woman called an NYPD hotline to report the alleged assault on May 17 and that she was treated at Mount Sinai Beth Israel.
Her lawyer, Keith White, maintains that she notified cops right away.
When asked to explain the discrepancy, White insisted “the incident happened on April 29 and she reported it when it happened.”
“I can’t speak to what NYPD’s records are,” White added.
The NYPD and the Manhattan district attorney’s office are investigating. White said it has been a long time since he’s gotten an update on the case.
“The reason why we decided to represent the plaintiff and file this lawsuit on her behalf is because we don’t have confidence that the Manhattan district attorney is going to prosecute this type of defendant — a rich white man,” White said.
“That accusation is baseless,” said Joan Vollero, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan DA. “The office has a long track record of prosecuting sex crimes without regard to the identity, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status of either the victim or defendant.”
Dinneen, who used to work for Pershing Square, was a key player in the hedge fund’s decision to short $1 billion in Herbalife stock several years ago, according to reports.
Pershing Square honchos thought Herbalife stock would drop to nothing following allegations the company was a “pyramid scheme,” but Herbalife didn't implode - which cost Pershing big, reports show.