NYC man indicted in 3 sexual assaults after one woman was rescued via Grubhub order
A New York City man is facing nearly two dozen sex charges in attacks on three women, including one whose plea for help through a Grubhub food order led to his arrest.
Kemoy Royal, 32, remained jailed on $500,000 bond Friday after being indicted this week on charges including first-degree sexual abuse, predatory sexual assault, first- and third-degree rape and strangulation in connection to the mid June attacks.
"We will seek justice for the victims," Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark said Monday as she announced a 23-count indictment against Royal.
Investigators with the New York City Police Department arrested Royal on June 19 after they said he attacked a third woman within a week. According to Clark, Royal met that 24-year-old woman after the pair talked on a dating app for a few months.
The man repeatedly raped and brutalized the woman at his Bronx apartment, investigators said, before he returned her phone and allowed her to order food. The woman’s desperate note to The Chipper Truck Cafe restaurant led police to Royal’s apartment.
"Please call the police...please don't make it obvious," the woman wrote in the additional instructions portion of her order.
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Alice Bermejo, who owns the cafe with her husband, said one of her employees called 911 after receiving the early morning message through a Grubhub order for breakfast sandwiches.
"Thankfully we were open and could help her," Bermejo told Paste BN last month.
Five days earlier, on the night of June 14, the defendant met the second woman, a 26-year-old woman, on the street claiming he knew her through a friend, Clark said.
The defendant allegedly lured the woman to his apartment, refused to let her leave and threatened to kill her. In that instance, Clark said, Royal allegedly attempted to force her to perform sexual acts on him, bit her in the chest area and strangled her. He let the woman go the next day.
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Two days prior, on June 13, Clark said the defendant allegedly met with a 27-year-old woman whom he had been speaking to on a dating app for a few days and invited her to his home. The defendant allegedly raped the victim and forced her to perform sexual acts on him. He also performed sexual acts on the victim without her consent, the release said.
Royal is due back in court on Oct. 11.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, help is available through the National Sexual Assault Hotline: 800-656-HOPE (4673).
Natalie Neysa Alund covers trending news for Paste BN. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.