Jury Convicts Man for Rape in Long Beach

A jury convicted a Hempstead man of dragging a woman onto the lawn of a Long Beach home and raping her for more than an hour in December 2009, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced Wednesday.

The jury took five hours to convict Alphonso Barnes, 56, of first-degree rape, first-degree criminal sexual act and first-degree sexual abuse, and as a persistent violent felony offender, Barnes will face up to life in prison at his Sept. 5 sentencing, the D.A. stated.

“This vicious attack is every woman’s nightmare, and it is impossible to imagine the pain, suffering, and after-effects that this victim has had to endure since that terrible night,” Rice said in a statment. “Her bravery and strength, however, have helped ensure that this violent predator will never victimize another innocent person again.”

According to Rice, at approximately 4:30 a.m. on Dec. 5, 2009, Long Beach police officers on patrol saw a woman with torn clothing running on East Broadway.

The woman, who was on the phone with a 9-1-1 operator, told the officers that she had been walking on Magnolia Boulevard when she was grabbed from behind, forced into the yard of a West Olive Street home and forcibly raped for approximately an hour and a half. During the attack, Barnes tied the victim’s sweater around her face so she could not identify him and strangled and threatened to kill her if she screamed.

DNA evidence collected at the scene led to Barnes, whose DNA sample was in the statewide database for previous convictions of criminally negligent homicide, attempted burglary and robbery.

Barnes, who was on lifetime parole and living in a shelter in Hempstead, was arrested by the Hempstead Police Department at the offices of the Nassau County Department of Social Services when he went to pick up a housing voucher. But at the time of his arrest, Barnes was reportedly living at the Long Beach Motor Inn on Austin Boulevard in Island Park, where Nassau County Social Services housed homeless people, including convicted sex offenders, county officials said then.

After the two-week trial, the jury rejected the defense’s claims that the victim consented to sexual activity with Barnes.

Chief Kyle Rose-Louder and Assistant District Attorney Jamie Johnson of the Special Victims Bureau are prosecuting the case for the DA’s Office. Barnes is represented by attorney Jeff Groder.