BRONX MAN SENTENCED TO 98.5 YEARS TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR KIDNAPPING AND RAPING WOMAN

 

Defendant Held Victim Captive for Days; Beat Her with Tire Iron

Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced that a Bronx man has been sentenced to 98.5 years to life in prison for kidnapping a woman and raping her over the course of four days in an abandoned building in Kingsbridge. 

District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant’s actions terrorized a 28-year-old woman he held captive, raping and beating her with a tire iron. Fortunately, she survived her ordeal, but she is emotionally scarred for life. The defendant now faces a life sentence of his own.” 

District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Timothy Harnett, AKA Lawless, 45, who was homeless at the time of the crime, was sentenced today to 98.5 years to life in prison on one count of first-degree Kidnapping, one count of first-degree Rape, four counts of first-degree Criminal Sexual Act, and one count of Attempted Sex Trafficking, by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Ralph Fabrizio. The defendant was found guilty by a jury on July 31, 2024.

According to the investigation, on April 29, 2022, the defendant offered the 28-year-old woman money in exchange for sex. He took her to 2667 Briggs Avenue, an abandoned threestory building. The defendant beat her with a tire iron, fracturing her wrist and dislocating her knee. The defendant bound her hands and feet and held her captive, raping her and threatening to kill her if she tried to escape. On May 2, 2022, the defendant left the building and while he was gone. The victim broke a window with the tire iron and used glass to cut the restraints on her feet. She waved down a passerby who called 911 and flagged down a NYPD patrol car.

District Attorney Clark thanked NYPD Detectives Jordan Gambino of the Bronx Special Victims Squad, James Barrenger of the NYPD DNA Cold Case Squad, and Michael Summa of the Bronx Warrants Squad for their work in the investigation.