Police: Man hiding in closet raped and slashed Bethlehem woman

A Bethlehem woman was brutally attacked in her home early Thursday by a man who was hiding in her closet, court documents say.

George A. Rosado, of the 1200 block of East Fourth Street in Bethlehem, is charged with raping the woman while her three children slept, and of using a sharp object to cut her genitals, causing her to lose a lot of blood, police said. The woman required surgery for the cut. Police said she also suffered bruises to an arm and a leg.

Northampton County Assistant District Attorney Laura Majewski called the attack “every woman’s worst nightmare.”

Rosado, 32, was arrested at 6:43 p.m. when he showed up at St. Luke’s University HospitalFountain Hill where the victim was being treated. He was charged with more than 17 offenses, including felony counts of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated assault, burglary, sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault. He faces misdemeanor counts of terroristic threats, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, indecent assault, three counts of child endangerment and four counts of reckless endangerment.

Rosado was arraigned by District Judge Patricia Broscius and was sent to Northampton County Prison under $500,000 bail.

According to court records and the Northampton County district attorney’s office, Rosado and the woman had been in a relationship and she had an active protection-from-abuse order against him.

Six days before the attack, a county judge sentenced Rosado to three months in jail for violating the PFA by allegedly assaulting the woman on Aug. 4 outside her home, according to court records. Judge Craig Dally imposed the sentence on Aug. 30 after Rosado arrived for a hearing on the PFA but left the courthouse before it was held.

Though Rosado faced a prison sentence, a bench warrant for his arrest was not issued that day, Majewski said. He remained free until his arrest Thursday.

In a petition about the PFA violation, the woman wrote that Rosado slammed her into a car and punched her, bruising her face and ribs and spraining her back. She said she had to go to the hospital for treatment.

“He has since posted my face all bruised up over social media,” she wrote.

On Tuesday, Rosado again assaulted the woman, slapping her in the face at a gas station in the 400 block of East Fourth Street, Bethlehem police said. The encounter was also a violation of the PFA, but charges of simple assault and harassment were not filed until Thursday when police charged him in the rape.

According to a criminal complaint in the rape:

The victim told Bethlehem police her three children were asleep and she was getting ready for bed when her closet door opened and Rosado walked out. She said he appeared high on drugs.

Terrified, the woman told Rosado to leave, but he threw her on the bed. She said she tried fighting, but he overpowered her and raped her.

She did not know what he used to cut her. She said friends took her to the hospital.

The woman told police she did not realize Rosado was in her home, but had noticed that the side vents to her living room air-conditioner had been moved.

When Rosado showed up at the hospital, police said he was “clearly under the influence of an unknown drug,” unable to keep his eyes open and maintain his balance.

Manuel Gamiz Jr. can be reached at 610-820-6595 or at mgamiz@mcall.com.