A 20-year-old high school student was arrested and charged Tuesday, nearly two years after police say he tried to rape a store clerk in the South Bronx.
Oumar Fofana, of the Bronx, was charged with attempted rape and sex abuse in a case that stretches back to August 2015. Police said they were able to link him to the crime through DNA evidence.
Police say that Fofana is the man who walked into a clothing store near East 157th Street and Third Avenue and browsed through merchandise before trying to rape a 41-year-old woman working there in a back room.
The woman was able to fend off her attacker, police said.
Fofana was arrested at his high school on Tuesday. Sources say he's a senior at the school, meaning he allegedly committed the crime in his earlier years, possibly when he was a sophomore.
As he was being escorted out of the 40th Precinct station house on Tuesday evening, Fofana was asked about the charges against him by a News 4 New York reporter. He responded: “It’s not cool.”
The News 4 reporter asked him if he committed the crime he’s been charged with, to which he responded: “Yeah. Don’t be like me.”
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Fofana has a criminal record that includes grand larceny and criminal mischief.
It wasn’t immediately known if Fofana had an attorney who could comment on the charges.
