Mint hotel located at 10-74 Beach 22nd Street.
Google Street View
Reports that a man seeking asylum sexually assaulted a young girl earlier this week in a Queens migrant shelter has been deemed unfounded by police, law enforcement sources said.
The disturbing accusation, first reported by the New York Post on Thursday, involved a 7-year-old girl — also a migrant — and a 34-year-old man who allegedly molested her inside of the Hotel Mint in Far Rockaway.
According to police sources, the child told authorities that she and her sister were taken to his room inside the Beach 22nd Street shelter at around 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 27, at which point he abused one of the children at knifepoint. The man was taken into custody and quizzed. However, cops told amNewYork Metro that the entire event is now believed to be a fabrication.
Law enforcement sources said that the man told police that he had not even been inside of the hotel at the time the children alleged. After an extensive investigation by detectives that included combing over hours of video surveillance, investigators determined that he was telling the truth, and that he was not at the location between 5:25 p.m. and 11:15 p.m. that day.
Cops also discovered video of the two girls playing in the building’s hallway at the time the alleged assault was said to have occurred.
In light of the new evidence, police say the man would not be charged and he was released from custody. A source close to the investigation told amNewYork Metro that detectives are still determining why the children would tell such a horrific story.
In a follow-up article, the New York Post reported that the ghastly narrative may have been a ploy by the girl’s family to take the man’s hotel room for themselves, yet police have not confirmed this. They did, however, say that they are not expecting anyone to be charged in the bizarre case.
Read the full article here
