Creep accused of slapping NYU student’s backside, knocking her to ground is repeat sex offender who was paroled in September
The 45-year-old male accused of slapping a New York University student’s backside and knocking her to the sidewalk while she was on her way to class earlier this week is a repeat sex offender who was paroled in September.
James Rizzo was arraigned late Wednesday night in Manhattan Criminal Court, WCBS-TV reported.
‘I let NYU security know to let students know that this man is going around doing this to other women.’
Rizzo — a Level 2 sex offender with 16 prior arrests and a history of violence against women— was paroled in September after serving time for sex abuse, the station said, citing the New York State Department of Corrections.
Police told WCBS that Rizzo kept on attacking women while he was out on parole.
The station said Rizzo appeared emotionless while pleading not guilty to three new assaults — all the victims women — at his arraignment. WCBS said the judge remanded Rizzo and that he is scheduled to appear in court again next week.
The station said the most recent alleged attack occurred Monday in Greenwich Village; surveillance video shows NYU student Amelia Lewis walking to class when the suspect slaps her backside and shoves her to the ground.
Lewis, 20, spoke about the incident on a Wednesday podcast, WCBS said.
“I wanted to report this, and after I did tell the cops I let NYU security know to let students know that this man is going around doing this to other women,” Lewis said, according to the station. “They also told me they were already aware of the man in the blue towel around his neck running around the city.”
Officials told the New York Daily News that Rizzo’s criminal history stretches back to the 1990s, when he stabbed a 74-year-old woman in the face during a burglary in Brooklyn.
The Daily News said Rizzo cut through a screen window at a home on East 83rd Street on June 13, 1997, and punched and stabbed his victim in the head before ransacking the residence. The paper, citing police, said a neighbor found the bloodied victim lying on the floor.
Cops arrested Rizzo and charged him with attempted murder, the Daily News said, adding that he ultimately pleaded guilty to burglary and was sentenced to up to 54 months in prison.
More recently investigators told WABC that Rizzo randomly punched a 59-year-old woman on Mercer Street in December 2023. That same month, Rizzo was arrested for forcible touching when police said he groped a 33-year-old woman on Greene Street in Greenwich Village and asked, “Oh, you want more,” WABC-TV reported.
On Thanksgiving Day last week, Rizzo allegedly attacked 68-year-old Dianne Brazell from Houston as she was walking in Midtown Manhattan, WABC said, slamming her into glass.
“I have a laceration in my forehead that required six stitches,” Brazell said, according to WABC. “I have a bruise on my left leg from my knee to my ankle. I have a bruise on my left shoulder. I bit my tongue.”
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