S.I. Sex Offender Who Cuffed Boy To Tree Arrested

Law enforcement sources have told WNBC.com that a Staten Island man has been arrested in connection with an incident that left a teenager stripped and handcuffed to a tree. William Marcus, 25, a convicted sex offender from Staten Island, will be charged with robbery and additional crimes to be announced later Friday by Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan Jr. The highest charge he could face is kidnapping.

Police said Marcus has a 1999 conviction for sodomy and endangering the welfare of a child.

Marcus was arrested based on a tip from a woman who called police on Thursday. The woman said the man had admitted accosting the 13-year-old victim, said Lt. Robert Sprague, a detective commander.

Police said the victim was robbed of $4, a bracelet and a cell phone and then sexually abused after being ordered to undress. They said detectives later found the phone and bracelet at the suspect's house.

Sources said the victim was approached randomly on the street prior to the robbery. The suspect has given a "detailed account" on videotape of the incident, according to a highly placed source.

Earlier accounts that suggested that the suspect and victim had met after chatting on the Internet are being discounted by law enforcement.

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"This is a random attack," Sprague said.

Sources said Marcus will also be charged in connection with a March 5 incident in which he allegedly attempted to accost a 14-year-old boy on a Staten Island train. A third passenger intervened in that incident, according to a source, and Marcus left the train without further contact with the boy.

In this week's case, the boy's cries were heard by a passerby who flagged down an officer with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

They found the boy, with no shirt, handcuffed to a tree in woods near Brady's Pond along Narrows Road North near Hylan Boulevard in Grasmere.

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The boy first claimed he had been abducted while on his way to the school bus. But his account later changed, and police began to suspect that he had met someone on the Internet and arranged a meeting.

The investigation took another turn when the tipster called and the boy picked out a photo of the suspect. The police then concluded that the boy had, indeed, been accosted by a stranger who apparently had a knife.

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