Violent Sex Offender Arrested In Bronx Knifepoint Elevator Rape: NYPD

NEW YORK CITY — A recent parolee with a record of sexual attacks stands accused of raping a woman at knifepoint in a Bronx elevator, police said.

Ramon Rotestan, 46, of The Bronx, was arrested Thursday morning to face rape and robbery charges, NYPD officials said.

An anonymous tip identified Rotestan as the man seen in a Monday elevator surveillance video who pulled a knife on a woman before he raped and robbed her of $112, police told Patch.

As police worked on the tip, Rotestan turned himself in to the 49th Precinct in the Bronx, where police arrested him, authorities said.

The arrest capped a days-long search for the rape suspect — and it isn't the first time Rotestan faced rape accusations.

Rotestan served prison time on a 2005 rape, sexual abuse and burglary case, according to state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision records. State sex offender records indicate Rotestan — who is listed as a sexually violent third-tier offender — used a knife or cutting instrument in that rape.

He was released on parole in that case on March 30 — just weeks before police said he followed a woman into a Pelham Parkway building elevator and raped her.

Rotestan also was convicted of first-degree sexual assault by compulsion in 2006 — another case that involved a knife or cutting instrument, according to sex offender registry records.