Monroe police charge Chester man with first-degree rape

Monroe - Early last Saturday morning, Monroe Village Police arrested a 36-year-old Chester resident on a charge of first-degree rape. According to Det. James Frankild, the incident unfolded this way: Just before 1 a.m. on Dec. 4, Monroe Police were alerted to an area business where a 21-year-old woman said that she was just raped. Officers began to respond and witnesses gave officers a description of a possible suspect’s vehicle. The woman told officers that she met the man at an area bar and they went into his vehicle in a parking lot and began to fool around. According to Frankild, the woman told officers that she wanted to stop; the man failed to listen to her and forcibly raped her in the car. The woman managed to escape and ran half dressed into a nearby business, where police were called. Meanwhile, an officer on the way to the scene spotted the vehicle and stopped it, where he interviewed the driver, Nayant Patel, 36, of Chester. Frankild said that evidence discovered in Patel’s vehicle corroborated the woman story as did witness statements. Patel was charged with first-degree rape and driving while intoxicated. He was arraigned before Monroe Village Court Judge Forrest Strauss and sent to Orange County Jail on $50,000 cash bail. The woman was brought to an area hospital by Monroe Volunteer Ambulance Corps where she was treated and released.