Alleged Norwood Rapist Behind Bars
Reward Offered for Man Who Struck Fordham Bedford

By MATTHEW COREY

The serial rapist who has menaced Norwood women for the past two years may turn out to be one of their neighbors.

Suspect Rudolph Moore, 28, of 19 East Mosholu Parkway North, was arrested on Sunday, August 2 at 10:45 a.m. The arresting officers were Michael O'Donoghue and Billy Maye of the local 52nd Precinct, according to community affairs officer Jimmy Livingston.

"He was observed on a fire escape, the police were called," Officer Olga Mercado of the NYPD press office recounted. "He fled across the rooftop to another fire escape. This is how sick he is: once inside, the police were after him, he tried to rape someone else. The victim fled with her two children."

The police blocked off the street and canvassed apartment to apartment until finding Moore and arresting him. Mercado said police are tracking three different patterns of rapes in and around the Mosholu Parkway area, and it is still being determined how many attacks Moore will eventually be linked to.

It was not Moore's first run-in with the 52nd Precinct. Records show he was arrested for trespassing as he came down the fire escape from a Norwood rooftop last September.

At present, investigators have charged Moore, a professional stripper, with four rapes going back to March of this year, said Lt. Dennis Sindone of the Bronx Borough Command's Special Victims Squad, which handles sex crimes and child abuse.

"It's still under investigation to link the others with him," said Sindone. Sindone confirmed police are acting on the theory that the same perpetrator is responsible for all three rape patterns.

In a similar, less-publicized collar, precinct officers nabbed Albert Bradley, 35, at 3530 Bainbridge Ave. on Tuesday, July 28, at 11 p.m., according to Captain Kenneth McGrath, the precinct's commanding officer.

Arrested for attempted burglary, Bradley was subsequently identified by two rape victims and charged with rape, McGrath said. Officers Brendon Nolan and Eileen Rosa made the arrest.

When allegedly spied on the Bainbridge Avenue fire escape, by a woman a source said is a retired police officer, Bradley was wearing fatigue pants. On being arrested, McGrath said, Bradley was wearing different pants and carrying a bag containing a curved knife, the fatigue pants, and a small flashlight, leading McGrath to suspect Bradley of a series of home burglaries in addition to the rapes.

"I've noticed a drop in burglaries in the last week [since Bradley's arrest]. Let's hope it stays down," McGrath said.

As homicide rates declined steadily under successive regimes at the NYPD, rape statistics have proven more volatile. In the year to date, rapes in the precinct are up 14.71 percent to 39 incidents, from 34 in 1997. More rapists, however, are getting caught. Arrests have zoomed up from seven to 16, a 129 percent increase, with some of those taken into custody -- like the "cardboard rapist" of last winter, and the recent suspects -- allegedly clearing several crimes apiece.

Both the Knox-Gates neighborhood, which has been agitating for better lighting of the Mosholu Parkway park, and churches and community associations in Fordham Bedford have reacted to the rapes by organizing around safety.

The Fordham Bedford neighborhood mobilized around the June 14 rape of a young woman in her apartment lobby. The attack was linked to yet another serial rapist and armed robber, whose terrain includes upper Manhattan, Yonkers, as well as different areas of the Bronx. He has victimized some 35 women.

Monsignor John Jenik, pastor of Our Lady of Refuge Church in Fordham Bedford and a fervent anti-crime activist, has collected $20,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the assailant.

St. Barnabas Hospital, Guardsman's Elevator, Montefiore Medical Center, Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation (FBHC), Houlihan and Parnes Realtors, and Residential Management Company all pitched in to the reward fund, said FBHC executive director John Reilly.

The rapist is described by police as a black male, 18-30 years old, 120-150 lbs., who wears a mask to protect his identity and has followed women home from discos in the south Bronx.

"A few of the victims have ended up coming from the same clubs," McGrath said. "He's someone who's out in the streets. More than likely, he has access to a vehicle." Crimewatchers are theorizing that the rapist may be a taxi or livery car driver.

On July 13, some 80 citizens of Fordham Bedford gathered in the Our Lady of Refuge parish center with officers from the 52nd Precinct to discuss rape prevention -- both in English and Spanish.

"The officer put on a videotape which showed an attack occurring, stopped [the tape], and then she moved on to what she had to share," said Zaida Arce, president of the OLR School's Parents Association.

"The discussion was really lively, lots of suggestions for what to do from the audience," Arce said.

Ed. note: Persons with information about these crimes are encouraged to call the Bronx Special Victims Squad at 299-4065 or the citywide 24-hour sex crimes hotline, staffed by a female detective: (212) 267-RAPE.

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