Freed perv in new sex bust
Arrested in Qns. attack months after doing 35 years for assault on girl
A sex offender who got out of prison earlier this year after serving 35 years has been busted for sexually assaulting a woman in a Queens elevator during a holdup, police said Thursday.
Ralph Toro, 62, was nabbed Wednesday at the Holiday Inn Express in Corona, a hotel where registered sex offenders have been placed following their release from Rikers Island or state prison.
Sex offenders have been staying at the hotel for more than a year because authorities were not able to find housing where tenants could isolate safely during the pandemic.
In a caught-on-camera attack, Toro allegedly followed a 51-year-old woman into a building at 62nd Drive and 108th St., part of the Forest Hills Co-Op Houses, about 12:10 p.m. Dec. 17, police said.
With a knife in one hand, he forced the woman to empty her bag onto the floor, authorities said. He then searched her body for more property then pulled down her pants and sexually assaulted her before she was able to push him away, according to cops.
The elevator door closed between them, enabling the woman to escape. Her attacker ran off empty-handed.
On Saturday, police released surveillance video of the attack and asked the public’s help identifying the assailant.
When Toro, also known as Ralph Torro, was arrested he was wearing the same clothes he had on during the attack, police said. He is charged with attempted robbery and sex abuse.
The 200-pound ex-con was paroled in February after serving 35 years of a 20-years-to-life sentence.
A state registry lists him as a Level 3 sex offender with a sexual predator classification. On Jan. 9, 1986, he victimized a 13-year-old girl and 29-yearold woman. He was convicted in 1987. State prison records indicate he entered prison that year for a case involving convictions for robbery, burglary and grand larceny.
He was previously paroled in 1985 after serving two years for a weapon conviction in Brooklyn. Before that he served more than four years for robbery and was conditionally released in 1982.
Toro was one of two New York sex offenders arrested Wednesday for shocking crimes. Darryl Phelps, 61, was allegedly caught in the act raping a 23-year-old woman at a construction site in Chelsea about 1:40 a.m. Wednesday.