Friday, October 22, 2010

Alleged Rapist Trapped by Cops After Texting Victim to Ask Her for a Date by Thomas Zambito AND Corky Siemaszko - NY Daily News

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Mug shot of accused rapist Timothy West, who was arrested after texting the woman he allegedly atacked.


A nervy Queens woman Wednesday described how she hatched a plan to capture the man who raped her twice after he asked for her number.

"I was hoping that he would call," the 21-year-old victim testified as her alleged attacker sat 15 feet away from her in Queens Supreme Court. "If he would call, I could set him up with the police."

Timothy West texted her instead and by nightfall he was in police custody.

The 21-year-old Applebee's waitress looked at West only once to identify him.

Then, in a calm voice, she recounted a three hour ordeal that began when West broke into her Ozone Park home through a kitchen window at 1:30 a.m. on March 20, 2009.

While West watched intently, the woman testified she was sleeping when he invaded her bed armed with a butcher knife he swiped from her kitchen and told her to be quiet. She said he wore a condom when he raped her the first time.

Afterward, she said, "He felt comfortable enough to tell me a little bit about himself."

While West rambled, the woman said she was thinking about how to escape without endangering her mother and brother, who were upstairs asleep in their bedrooms.

"As we're talking I was still planning on what to do next, to get him out of my house," she testified.

"I tried to keep it calm. I didn't want to show him I was in fear. I didn't know what he was capable of."

When West demanded more sex, the woman said she pleaded with him not to rape her again. She said he brandished a folding knife and attacked her again. This time he did not wear a condom, she said.

"I was wondering what was going to happen next," she said.

When West finished, the woman said he demanded food and she led him to the kitchen, where he went straight for the liquor.

It was then, she said, that West asked for her number.

"Maybe we can be friends or something?" West said, according to the woman.

Later, when detectives were questioning her, the woman said West texted her a two word message, "Call me."

The woman said she called West and left a message. He called her back from his sister's home in Corona and cops recorded their conversation.

West apologized for raping the woman and arranged to meet her at a Dunkin Donuts in Corona at 10 p.m. that night - and walked right into a trap, police say.

West, whose rap sheet includes arrests for robbery and burglary, insists the sex was consensual. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.