FAIRVIEW -- Three undocumented immigrants have been charged in the predawn rape of a woman behind a Fairview Avenue bank. The 29-year-old woman was drunk when she got off a bus from Manhattan at about 1:40 a.m. Tuesday on her way home to West New York, said Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli.
of the defendants approached her at a bus stop and then carried her to an area next to the Oritani Bank, where one of them raped her, Molinelli said. The second man ran off when a passerby spotted him, the prosecutor said.
The passerby, state Corrections Officer Carl Lio, flagged down a police officer a block away.
Together they went around the building and found a man -- identified as Martin Cana-Chocoj, 25, of Fairview -- sexually assaulting the unconscious woman, said Fairview Deputy Chief Frank Del Vecchio.
The victim suffered head injuries, although it was unclear late Wednesday whether they were related to the rape. She was listed in stable condition at New York Presbyterian Hospital and has no recollection of what happened, Molinelli said.
"This is a situation where these two guys took advantage of someone who was unable to defend herself," the prosecutor said.
Del Vecchio said he'd never seen a crime like that in his 20 years as a police officer.
"Usually rapes are by done by someone who is known to [the victim]," he said, "but for these men to pick up a perfect stranger and rape her behind a building -- I've never seen anything like that before."
Cana was immediately taken into custody. He was questioned extensively on Tuesday while investigators sought the other suspect, Molinelli said.
That man, 19-year-old Sergio Ramon-Estrada of Cliffside Park, was arrested around 10 p.m. Tuesday at his home, the prosecutor said Wednesday. He, too, was questioned before both he and Cana were charged with sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault.
Molinelli said each man separately told investigators that Cana raped the woman and that Ramon acted as the lookout.
However, authorities charged Ramon with the equivalent of rape because he participated in the crime, the prosecutor said.
DNA tests were being done to determine whether the men were being truthful to investigators, he said.
Meanwhile, authorities charged a third man, Felix Chocoj-Ortiz, with hindering apprehension. Chocoj had given investigators the wrong information about the whereabouts of Ramon, his cousin, Molinelli said.
In accordance with new guidelines from the Attorney General's Office, police contacted federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities because the three are undocumented immigrants.
A municipal court judge in Fairview presided over their first appearances Wednesday via video conferencing from the Bergen County Jail.
The judge, Keith J. Roberts, read the charges to the defendants, who wore orange jumpsuits. When he asked whether they understood the charges, each answered "Yes."
Cana and Ramon were held on $500,000 bail pending grand jury action. Chocoj's bail is $50,000.
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