Orange County News

For Immediate Release                                                                           Contact: Christopher Borek
Tuesday, March 13, 2018                                                                  845.291.3276, 845.238.4245c

District Attorney Hoovler Announces Guilty Plea in Rape Case 

Cab Driver Pleads Guilty to Two counts of Rape in the First Degree

District Attorney to Recommend that Defendant to be Sentenced to 21 Years in State Prison

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Monday, March 12, 2018, Javier Alexander Vilchez Salazar, 34, of New Windsor, pleaded guilty before Orange County Court Judge Craig Stephen Brown to two counts of Rape in the First Degree, for raping two young women he had picked up as fares when he was driving a cab by bars and nightclubs on the waterfront in the City of Newburgh, in September and November of 2017. 

At the time Vilchez Salazar pleaded guilty, he admitted that on November 12, 2017, he was driving a cab by the waterfront in Newburgh when he picked up a young woman who was looking for a cab to take her home.  Vilchez Salazar admitted driving her to the vicinity of Lake Street in the Town of New Windsor and engaging in sexual intercourse with her by forcible compulsion.  Vilchez Salazar also admitted that on September 3, 2017, he picked up a different young woman by the waterfront in Newburgh, who similarly was looking for a cab to take her home. Vilchez Salazar admitted driving the woman to the vicinity of Lake Street in New Windsor and engaging in sexual intercourse with her by forcible compulsion.

At the time Vilchez Salazar pleaded guilty, the District Attorney’s Office stated that it would be recommending that he be sentenced to twenty-one years in state prison and ten years post-release supervision when he is sentenced on May 3, 2018.

District Attorney Hoovler thanked the City of Newburgh Police Department, the Town of New Windsor Police Department, the New York State Police and an Orange County District Attorney’s Office Investigator for the investigation of the case. Vilchez Salazar was arrested on November 25, 2017, by the City of Newburgh Police Department.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Kerry Kolek.

“I commend the police officers whose investigation stopped this defendant from continuing these heinous predatory attacks on unsuspecting women who were merely trying to get home safely,” said District Attorney Hoovler.  “The bravery and tenacity of the survivors of these attacks in coming forward and cooperating with law enforcement is to be admired, and was indispensable to the successful prosecution of this case. As stated in court, we will be seeking a sentence of twenty-one years in state prison when this defendant is sentenced.”

 A criminal charge is merely an allegation by the police that a defendant has committed a violation of the criminal law, and it is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the State of New York’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.