NEW YORK, NY – In one of the more heinous crimes coming out of New York City these days, a homeless man who held a teenage girl hostage and engaged in human trafficking has been indicted by a grand jury in the Bronx.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that Albert Lenhardt, 41, who is homeless, was arraigned on first-degree Kidnapping, Sex Trafficking of a Child, Sex Trafficking, two counts of first-degree Rape, three counts of second-degree Kidnapping, second-degree Assault, third-degree Promoting Prostitution, five counts of third-degree Rape, two counts of third-degree Criminal Sexual Act, second-degree Strangulation, and two counts of fourth-degree Criminal Possession of a Weapon before Bronx Supreme Court Justice George Villegas.
District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant is charged in a 20-count indictment for allegedly beating, raping and sex trafficking a girl who was only 15 years old when she met him. It is alleged that he raped her and held her hostage in various locations for seven months. The defendant allegedly employed a classic trauma bond to keep her with him, instilling fear in the victim while making her believe he cared for her well-being. We will continue our work to hold the defendant accountable for his actions.”
In a report released by Clark’s office, it alleges the defendant allegedly sexually abused the victim approximately every other day between September 2021 to April 2022.
“The defendant allegedly began a relationship with the victim, who was 15 years old at the time, in the summer of 2021 and offered her to stay at his then-girlfriend’s apartment in Brooklyn, where he allegedly began a sexual relationship with the victim against her will and punched, slapped, and choked her. In the fall of 2021, Lenhardt allegedly brought the victim, who had just turned 16, to live in the NYCHA Mitchel Houses in the Bronx and forced her to perform oral sex on an individual in exchange for drugs for Lenhardt,” investigators reported.
According to the report, in November 2021, the defendant allegedly kept the victim in a utility room in a building of NYCHA Mott Haven Houses.
“At one point, the victim attempted to escape and the defendant allegedly assaulted her and slashed her wrist with a blade, causing a deep wound, and raped her,” D.A. Clark said. “According to the investigation, on January 23, 2022, the defendant allegedly raped the victim in a public park bathroom, then brought her to his sister’s apartment on College Avenue where she was raped again and when she tried to leave the defendant threatened her with a knife.”
The teen girl was able to text a family member, who then called the police. Officers arrived, and
the victim was able to leave. The defendant escaped. The victim went back to him.