By Sarah Ellen Berman
On January 1, the New Castle Police Department received a call from a 26-year-old woman. The call was placed shortly after the victim was raped in the home where she worked in the Town of New Castle.
With the assistance of the Village of Ossining Police Department, the New Castle Police Department located the alleged perpetrator of the crime at his residence on Yale Avenue in Ossining. On January 5, 25-year-old Nestor Alejandro Guaman Guartambel was charged with rape in the first degree. He was arraigned in front of Justice Zuckerman in the Town Court of New Castle on the same day and ordered to be held without bail at the Westchester County Jail.
The following week on January 12, Guaman Guartambel, clad in a bright orange regulation uniform marked WCDOC – Westchester County Department of Correction, waited in the prisoners’ box at Town Court. Accompanied by an interpreter on his left and his counsel on the right, he appeared again before Justice Zuckerman. His lawyer’s request for an all purpose adjournment was granted and the suspect was ordered to return to court on February 2. Guaman Guartambel’s lawyer requested a copy of the rap sheet and was told that this would be provided.
Although rape crimes are extremely unusual in town, there have been several cases of sexual abuse. Statistics on previous rape cases were unavailable.
Locally, the overall crime rate is fairly low. Burglaries constitute the highest number of incidents in any given year. “People have a false sense of security,” Public Information Officer, Detective/Sargent James Wilson related. “It’s not necessarily true that nothing ever happens here,” he added.
