Two migrants were arrested for raping a woman at knifepoint at Coney Island in New York, one of whom was released from prison for the sexual assault of another woman.
Daniel Davon-Bonilla, 24, of Nicaragua, allegedly grabbed a 46-year-old woman, threw her to the ground, and held a knife to her throat before raping her on Sunday night under the Riegelmann Boardwalk, the New York Post reported.
His alleged accomplice, Mexican migrant Leovando Moreno, 37, has been accused of hitting the woman’s 34-year-old boyfriend with a pipe when he tried to stop the attack, sources told the outlet.
Davon-Bonilla was arrested for allegedly raping a woman at a Brooklyn migrant shelter, about four months after he is believed to have made his way illegally across U.S. border into Texas in December 2022.
He spent about a year in jail before taking a plea deal that put him back on the streets in June 2024, the Post reported, citing corrections officials and Brooklyn prosecutors.
Davon-Bonilla’s latest alleged victim was living under the boardwalk with her boyfriend when the accused approached her while she was alone.
He allegedly attacked her when she refused his offer of trinkets in exchange for sex.
The woman’s boyfriend arrived during the assault and tried to rescue her before Moreno blindsided him, sources said.
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Davon-Bonilla was charged with first-degree rape, second-degree assault, first-degree sexual abuse, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon, according to the outlet.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges and is being held without bail.
City Department of Correction officials told the Post that Davon-Bonilla was jailed at Rikers Island from April 4, 2023, until June 24, 2024 — putting him back on the streets less than two months before Sunday’s attack.
“After he spent over a year in jail and following the victim’s request not to testify in any court proceedings, this defendant was offered a plea of time served and court-managed programming,” a spokesman for Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez said Monday.
He faces up to seven years in the earlier case for violating the terms of the deal, the spokesman said.
Moreno, who is homeless, was arraigned on charges of second-degree assault and criminal possession of a weapon for Sunday’s attack.
He also pleaded not guilty and was held on $20,000 cash bail.
Moreno’s lawyer claimed he didn’t know Davon-Bonilla, and said he heard the woman’s screams, saw Davon-Bonilla and the woman’s boyfriend in a scuffle and tried to break up the fight with the pipe he is accused of swinging.
Both men are due back in court on Friday.
It was not clear why Davon-Bonilla, who has no known address, was allowed to remain in the U.S. after he was released from jail in June.