There is an “emergency” of violence against women and girls in the United States, an activist charged Saturday, pointing to a series of alleged heinous sexual acts, including the fatal drugging and rape of a Fashion Institute of Technology student, as evidence of a “crisis.”
Attorney and activist Reshma Saujani, founder of the nonprofits Moms First US and Girls Who Code, shared a heartbreaking statement on Instagram Saturday in light of 19-year-old Moises Freire’s indictment that Bronx prosecutors say drugged Annabel Richter, 20, with fentanyl and raped her while she was unconscious and dying in her FIT dorm room in March.
“With headlines about Cornell and UChicago, this seems too much to bear,” wrote Saujani, who was the first Native American woman to run for Congress in 2010.
“One part that haunts me: Prosecutors say he sent photos of her unconscious to his friends before calling for help. It’s the same thing we saw in the Cornell group chat. Women and girls are facing a sexual violence crisis in this country, and we can’t continue to treat it as business as usual.
“How many more stories like Annabel’s before we treat this as an emergency?”
Richter and her roommate thought Freire was giving them cocaine from Mexico when they used the deadly drug in their room at the girls-only Nagler Hall in Chelsea on March 18, according to prosecutors.
Both women immediately passed out, and Freire allegedly raped Richter – taking photos of her half-naked body to send to his friends once he was finished, according to newly unsealed court records.
He allegedly waited 45 minutes to call campus security to take the women to the hospital after they began overdosing, then lied to first responders — saying they had simply had too much to drink and that he didn’t realize Richter was unconscious until he had sex with her, prosecutors said.
Freire’s friend, Brian Peralta Cabrera, 18, of Queens, was separately charged with drug conspiracy for allegedly helping Freire obtain the deadly fentanyl.
Freire and Peralta Cabrera were first arrested in March. They pleaded not guilty to an initial set of charges that did not include the rape allegation and remain in custody.
Freire is due back in court Oct. 28 to be arraigned on enhanced charges of distribution of a controlled substance with intent to commit rape, as well as other drug-related charges. He faces a minimum of 20 years in prison and a maximum of life if convicted.
A third man, Harry Rosales Pino, pleaded guilty to distribution of drugs resulting in death.
“Hearing about the situation as a former student was very hard and very heartbreaking, especially since she was so young,” FIT alumna Amanda McCormack, 23, told the Post.
“I think this is coming to light at the same time as the Cornell case, which is also controversial right now. Ultimately, what she went through was horrible and I think these types of cases deserve more justice for the victims.”
The twisted events described by FIT prosecutors come as other cases of alleged sexual abuse have sparked outrage at Cornell University and the University of Chicago.
A former Cornell University student, identified only as Jane Doe, has filed an explosive complaint against seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity, who she says gang-raped her. During a sickening frat group chat, one fraternity brother allegedly said there were “free p-sys upstairs.” Another replied: “Shop still open?
All seven brothers denied raping Doe and none were charged with crimes.
A woman attending an Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity party near the University of Chicago was allegedly sexually assaulted in a bathroom earlier this month as partygoers cheered on her alleged attacker.
Neither the alleged victim nor the man accused of attacking the woman are students at the university.
Jonathan Pierce, a spokesman for the national organization AEPi, said the alleged attacker was not a member of the fraternity and that when fraternity members heard about the incident, they offered him help.
UChicago said it had identified a person of interest, but could not release his name since police were still investigating the incident and no charges had been filed.
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