A New Rochelle man accused of moving the body of a teenager who died in February of acute intoxication and of soliciting naked images from the boy days earlier is facing new charges involving the sexual abuse of the teenager.
Hugo Perez-Gabriel, 32, pleaded not guilty Tuesday, July 8, in Westchester County Court to a new indictment charging him with third-degree rape, third-degree criminal sex act, and tampering with physical evidence, all felonies, and misdemeanor counts of third-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.
Perez-Gabriel and a 16-year-old were arrested Feb. 7, a day after the body of 15-year-old Jonson Temaj was found on the sidewalk of Washington Avenue near Charles Street. They were charged with concealment of a corpse, accused of moving Temaj from a house nearby.
Neither still faces that charge, which required them to have made the body unavailable to law enforcement, when what they allegedly did was place the body in plain sight. That action led to the tampering charge against Perez-Gabriel in the new indictment.
Perez-Gabriel was arrested again two weeks later on an indictment charging him with use of a child in a sexual performance, disseminating indecent material to a minor and possessing an obscene sexual performance by a child. He had allegedly arranged through WhatsApp for Temaj to send him naked images of himself in early February.
Authorities have not publicly revealed how drunk Temaj was or what specific involvement Perez-Gabriel had with him prior to his death. According to the Westchester Medical Examiner’s Office, the cause of death was acute ethanol intoxication. Neither indictment charges Perez-Gabriel with causing Temaj’s death.
Perez-Gabriel faces up to 15 years if convicted of the most serious felonies in the original indictment and up to four years on the felonies in the latest indictment. He remains held without bail at the Westchester County jail.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: New sex charges against New Rochelle man accused of moving teenager’s body
Reporting by Jonathan Bandler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
