A Brooklyn man was arrested Thursday and charged with rape, burglary and aggravated sexual abuse after police say he entered a 71-year-old woman's home while she slept, assaulted her and fled with her pajama pants.
Police identified the suspect as Servin Maradiaga, 43. According to authorities, the victim was inside her Cypress Hills residence near Berriman Street and Liberty Avenue around 2:15 a.m. on Aug. 30 when an unknown person entered through a kitchen window, touched her in a sexual manner, choked her and left with the woman's pajama pants. The attack was reported to police and investigators linked Maradiaga to the incident.
Authorities said they arrested Maradiaga at about 9 a.m. Thursday at the ibis Styles New York LaGuardia Airport hotel, an address listed for him. Police also connected him to a separate alleged sexual offense: on Nov. 29, 2024, he was accused of groping the buttocks of a 41-year-old acquaintance inside a social club on Arlington Avenue near Highland Place in Cypress Hills. He was charged in that matter with forcible touching and sexual abuse, police said.
Maradiaga faces multiple counts, including criminal obstruction of breathing in connection with the Aug. 30 incident. He was scheduled to be arraigned in both cases Friday afternoon, according to police. Investigators did not release additional details about the victim’s condition beyond the account of the assault.
Police records show Maradiaga was most recently arrested in July on a local law violation for lying outstretched on a subway in Brooklyn. Authorities said he also has a prior arrest from 2013 for forcible touching in Manhattan.
The New York Police Department handled the investigation and made the arrest; prosecutors have filed the charges and the matter remained in the court system as of Friday. The case comes amid ongoing municipal discussions about public safety and policing in New York City, topics that city officials and community leaders have frequently raised in recent years.
Officials urged anyone with information about the incidents to contact detectives assigned to the case. Court records and police reports will determine whether prosecutors move forward on the charges and what evidence will be presented at arraignment and any subsequent hearings.