Bed-Stuy sex offender sentenced for 2016 rape near Bushwick subway station

A 54-year-old man and registered sex offender has been sentenced to 50 years to life in prison for sexually assaulting a woman in 2016 as she walked home from a Bushwick subway station.

According to trial testimony, at around 2:45 a.m. on August 16, 2016, the victim, 27, exited the J train Kosciuszko Street subway station when the defendant – 54-year-old Michael Mann of Bed-Stuy – grabbed the woman from behind, placed a knife to her back, demanded money and threatened to stab her. The woman gave Mann $5 and offered him the rest of her belongings, at which point he cut her clothing with a knife and raped her.

Mann also told the victim that he’d seen her before, knew where she lived and would kill her if she called the police. The woman went home, told a friend about the attack and was taken to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center.

Mann, a Level 3 sex offender, was arrested on August 17 after officers responded to a dispute and recognized the defendant from the rape victim’s sexual assault report. He was wearing the same sneakers, jeans and hat that he wore in the Bushwick attack and his DNA matched that which was recovered from the victim.

“We are determined to keep dangerous sexual predators like this defendant off our streets. The defendant’s heinous and cowardly crime against a defenseless woman was the ultimate violation of her physical and mental wellbeing, yet she still had the courage to face him in court,” said District Attorney Eric Gonzalez on Thursday, April 12, when Mann was sentenced. “Today’s sentence ensures that he will not be able to hurt any other women.”