The violent vagrant arrested for attacking a 20-year-old NYU coed in an unprovoked assault Monday morning has a troubling historical past of cowardly assaults on girls, The Submit has discovered.
James Rizzo, a 45-year-old homeless brute with 16 prior busts, together with for sexual abuse and forcible touching — and even a 1997 homicide rap — was charged Tuesday night with shoving school pupil Amelia Lewis to the bottom as she walked to class in Decrease Manhattan on Monday morning.
The serial creep was slapped with persistent sexual abuse, forcible touching and assault expenses for the random assault on the 20-year-old, cops stated.
Rizzo was linked to the crime after cops “caught him within the act” of burglarizing an condominium close to Washington Sq. Park on Tuesday, police stated.
He was additionally charged with 4 burglaries allegedly dedicated in the identical constructing — three of which occurred as residents inside had been sleeping, based on cops.
Rizzo was launched from state jail in September after being sentenced to 2 years behind bars on a persistent sexual abuse conviction, on-line correction data present.
He was again on the streets round 9:30 a.m. Monday, when he allegedly ran up behind Lewis, smacked her buttocks, grabbed her hair and threw her to the bottom earlier than operating off.
“I simply actually wish to emphasize how not okay that is,” the sufferer stated in a tearful on-line video publish after the assault. “I’m truthfully nonetheless in shock, however I’m extra enraged that issues like this are in a position to occur on this metropolis, and we actually must do one thing about it as a result of that is unacceptable.”
Rizzo’s prolonged rap sheet contains expenses that he grabbed a 33-year-old lady’s breasts on Inexperienced Road in Manhattan on Dec. 27, 2023, snapping on the lady, “Oh, you need extra?”, based on regulation enforcement sources.
Further reporting by Steven Vago
