CHELSEA, Mass. — A Chelsea man is accused of raping a woman at knifepoint and threatening to report her to ICE if she contacted police, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said Tuesday.
Alfredo Romero-Cortez is facing charges of aggravated rape, assualt and battery on a household member, assault with a dangerous weapon and intimidating a witness in connection to the July 4 incident.
The female victim, who was hospitalized at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, told Chelsea police on July 5 that she had been raped by Romero-Cortez the day before.
The victim told police that she and Romero-Cortez were about to have consensual sex when he became enraged when she told him they could only continue if they used a condom.
The victim told officers that Romero-Cortez slapped her three times in the face, pulled her by her arm, and then produced a cream-colored pocketknife.
Romero-Cortez allegedly told her she “better do what he says” while threatening her with the knife. She told police Romero-Cortez then raped her.
Romero-Cortez allegedly told her he would report her to ICE if she told officers about the rape. The victim told officers that because she feared being separated from her young daughter she only reported the incident the following day, when she began to feel ill and told a nurse.
The hospital then contacted officers.
“The facts here are troubling on numerous levels, certainly with the physical harm the victim suffered in the assault along with her reluctance to report because of the threats about ICE and her fear of separation from her child. This is the type of combined anguish no one should have to experience,” Hayden said.
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