The Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, has stated that Otoniel Mckenzie has been sentenced to the maximum term of imprisonment under New York State Penal Code for his role in the rape of a 24-year-old woman in her apartment in July 2021, the filming of that rape, and the subsequent surveillance of the victim for more than a week.
A jury in the New York State Supreme Court found Mckenzie guilty of many offenses, including aggravated stalking in the Fourth Degree, Unlawful Dissemination or Publication of an Intimate Image, and Rape in the third degree.
Mckenzie was found guilty at trial on August 17, 2022, and sentenced to 5 years in state prison for stalking in the first degree and forcible touching on July 31, 2021, for following and repeatedly groping a woman as she went down Spring Street near 6th Avenue.
At around 4:00 a.m. on July 18, 2021, Mckenzie reportedly approached a 24-year-old female Lower East Side resident on her way home. Mckenzie went over to the woman and started talking to her. Mckenzie returned to the woman’s flat and covered her mouth with his hand. Mckenzie raped and choked her in the bedroom shortly after they arrived. Mckenzie secretly filmed himself on his phone for 16 minutes while he raped and choked the victim.
Mckenzie sent the victim six texts from various phone numbers between July 18, 2021, and July 27, 2021. Once, he even emailed her a splice of the video that he had doctored to make it look like they were both giving consent. If she didn’t meet with him in person and unblock his phone, Mckenzie threatened to send it to her parents as blackmail. “I hope you always remember this ordeal because I’m sure it’s going to shape your life forever,” Mckenzie texted to the survivor as a final note.
On the evening of July 31, 2021, four days later, Mckenzie shadowed a woman in her twenties as she strolled down Spring and Prince Streets. During that period, he grabbed her three times before fleeing each time by sneaking up on her from behind or out of nowhere.
Two more women in Williamsburg reported being sexually assaulted by Mckenzie on August 1, 2021, when he reportedly covered their lips and groped them. The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office is in charge of this investigation. NYPD detectives identified Mckenzie in the surveillance footage and made the connection that led to his arrest.
Mckenzie made many phone calls to his friend while he was in jail awaiting trial, pleading with him to access his devices and further alter the covertly recorded footage to make it look less damning to his defense counsel and the D.A.’s Office. After finishing the video’s editing, he requested that his friend erase it.
