"A 17-count indictment charges Michael Benjamin, 57, of Conyers, with multiple counts of rape, sodomy, sexual abuse, burglary and robbery, according to the Queen's District Attorney's Office in New York. Conyers is about a 25-mile drive southeast from Atlanta. Benjamin's defense attorney did not immediately return McClatchy News' request for comment Oct. 19. He is represented by Joseph Amsel, who told WSB-TV that Benjamin "vigorously, vehemently, and vociferously denied these allegations.""
"The next month, in September 1996, prosecutors said Benjamin ambushed a woman as she arrived at her front door and forced her inside her home at gunpoint. He "threatened to kill her husband and child - who were home - if she did not comply with his demands," prosecutors said. Benjamin raped the woman, stole cash from her and then left, according to the district attorney's office."
Authorities say DNA collected from a discarded cup linked Michael Benjamin, 57, of Conyers, Georgia, to the violent rapes of at least five women in Queens between 1995 and 1997. A 17-count indictment charges him with rape, sodomy, sexual abuse, burglary and robbery. The attacks occurred in Jamaica, St. Albans, Laurelton and Brookville and involved breaking into sleeping victims' homes, covering victims' heads, tying victims, using a firearm and threatening to kill family members. Stolen items included cash and jewelry. Benjamin is represented by Joseph Amsel, who says Benjamin denied the allegations.
Read at Belleville News-Democrat
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