A Port Chester man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the sexual assault of two teenagers in Rye last year. For quiet Rye, the first incident on June 3rd of 2023 on Parsons Street near Rye High School at the time of prom and the second assault weeks later in Rye Town Park on June 22nd, galvanized the community and the Rye Police Department into action.
After an indictment in August of 2023, the Westchester DA Miriam E. Rocah announced Monday today that Richard Olmino of Port Chester, age 22, was sentenced to 15 years in state prison for the assaults. The defendant approached both female victims under the pretense of needing help before attacking and sexually assaulting them.
“Westchester County is safer now with this defendant off our streets,” said DA Rocah. “No one should fear for their safety in their neighborhood or community. We thank the brave survivors who showed incredible strength in coming forward to work with our office and ensure this defendant was brought to justice.”
The defendant, Richard Olmino, 22, pleaded guilty on April 1 to Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree and Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, both felonies. The defendant was also sentenced to 20 years of post-release supervision and is required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.
The Police Work
Rye PD Lieutenant Mike Anfuso, head of the detective division, along with detectives Mike Anderson and Jon Klein, worked around the clock for three straight days at the time of the second attack, working on leads, collecting evidence and pulling in other agencies. Anfuso said in his 25 years it was probably the “most important and the biggest investigation” the department had put together.
“I’m born and raised in this community,” Anfuso told MyRye.com. “So it was important to me to make everybody feel safe again, and getting him off the street was the number one priority, number one goal, it was the number one thing we were working at for that month that we got everything together.”
The FBI Safe Streets Task Force and the Westchester County Police Department forensic unit were critical partners in the case. The FBI assisted with surveillance while the warrants were in process, all three agencies worked on the search warrant and takedown, and the County forensics team assisted with evidence collection.
Incidents Detailed
On June 23, 2023, at approximately 12 a.m., the defendant asked for help from a 16-year-old female jogging in Rye Town Park, then took her phone and threw her to the ground as she tried to run away. The defendant told the victim he had a knife before exposing himself and sexually assaulting her. A park security guard interrupted the attack, causing the defendant to flee. Police recovered the defendant’s cell phone at the scene.
DNA evidence from the incident linked the defendant to a separate incident that took place on June 3, 2023 on Parsons Street in Rye, where, at approximately 1:36 a.m., the defendant approached an 18-year-old female who was walking home from an after-prom party, asked for help, then took her cell phone and threatened her before sexually assaulting her.
The City of Rye Police Department arrested the defendant at his Port Chester home on June 25, 2023, after police, with assistance from the Westchester County Department of Public Safety and the FBI’s Westchester Safe Streets Task Force, used the defendant’s cell phone to identify and locate him.
The defendant, who has two open warrants in Connecticut, including one for public indecency, and a pending criminal case in Suffolk County, has remained remanded to Westchester County Jail since his arrest.
Witness Statements
In a statement to the court, one of the victims said: “No matter how much I begged or how hard I cried, you showed me no mercy. In fact, you threatened to harm me…. I thought I was going to die there, alone, in the town that I loved…. What you did was heinous, but it did not break me. I’m here today, to look you in the face, and voice everything I could not that night.”
In a statement to the court, the second victim said: “You witnessed, preyed upon, and took full advantage of my kindness, empathy, and generosity to you, and in that moment, you made something so beautiful about me, seem so ugly…. What happened wasn’t my fault, and I will never stop being kind, empathetic, and generous. That is something you will never ruin in me.”
Rye PD’s Anfuso was at the sentencing and was moved by the impact statements. “That’s the first time I ever got to hear impact statements and the girls, for as young as they were, they were great statements. They really spoke from the heart.”
The case was before New York State Supreme Court Justice James McCarty in Westchester County Court and prosecuted by Special Prosecutions Deputy Division Chief Michelle Lopez and Sex Crimes Bureau Senior Assistant District Attorney Mollie O’Rourke with assistance from Senior Crime Analyst Toni Garcia and Clinical Trauma Therapist Stacey Nolan Meaney.
