Florida Man Charged With 2017 Rape on Taconic State Parkway

A man living in Jacksonville, Florida has been arrested in connection with an alleged rape that took place in the woods off the Taconic State Parkway in September 2017, New York State Police announced.

Orlando Martinez Morales, 34, is charged with first-degree rape and criminal sexual assault along with forcible touching.

An investigation on Sept. 2, 2017 brought the New York State Police from the Cortland barracks to a section of the Taconic State Parkway in the town of Kent. Information revealed a taxi driver agreed to take the alleged victim from New York City to a location just north of Albany, police said.

During the drive, the cabbie stopped the vehicle, entered the backseat, and began sexually assaulting the victim, police said. The driver then removed the victim from the vehicle, entered the nearby woods, and then raped the victim, police said.

On Dec. 5, with the help of Jacksonville Sheriff’s Deputies and New York State Police Investigators, Martinez Morales was found, arrested and taken into custody in Jacksonville, Florida for extradition to New York.

Martinez Morales was arraigned in Putnam County Supreme Court and jailed in lieu of $250,000 cash bail or $500,000 bond.