DA: L.I. Man Accused Of Raping Woman Plotted To Kill Victim, Witness
HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A Long Island man accused of raping and terrorizing a woman inside a Stony Brook home last year is now facing new charges in an alleged murder-for-hire plot.
As TV 10/55 Long Island Bureau Chief Richard Rose reported Wednesday night, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said investigators uncovered "clear evidence" that 21-year-old Patrick O'Sullivan of East Moriches planned to have the alleged rape victim and a witness killed in a "scheme he believed would result in his freedom."
"In his mind, without those two witnesses he would go free," Spota said.
Spota said O'Sullivan, who has been in county jail in lieu of $100,000 cash bail or $1 million bond since his December arrest on sexual assault charges, tried to hire a fellow inmate, who was about to be released, to pull off the murders, 1010 WINS' Mona Rivera reported.
DA: L.I. Man Accused Of Raping Woman Plotted To Kill Victim, Witness
"The essential plan was that he would kill the victim of the sexual assault before she was able to testify, he would kill a witness for the prosecution who had essential information," Spota said.
O'Sullivan told the inmate he would pay him $23,000 to carry out the hits, Spota said.
DA: L.I. Man Accused Of Raping Woman Plotted To Kill Victim, Witness
The two apparently communicated by writing messages on paper airplanes that they threw from one cell to another, WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported.
Spota said in one instance, O'Sullivan instructed, "After you kill the victim, dump her body in the water; after you kill the witness, bury the witness so after the case against me collapses and I get out of jail, I can dig the body up, cut his head off and mail it to his family for the holidays."
The inmate became a cooperating witness and turned over notes and other evidence to authorities, Rivera reported.
In return, the inmate was released earlier than scheduled, Hall reported.
Authorities said last November, O'Sullivan -- wearing dark clothing and a mask -- entered a Stony Brook home through an unlocked door and then bound and attacked a woman at gunpoint.
He has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of predatory sexual assault, rape in the first degree, criminal sexual act in the first degree, sexual abuse in the first degree, burglary in the first degree, and criminal use of a firearm.
Investigators also claimed that after the rape, O'Sullivan left his victim tied up so that she had to use her tongue to dial 911.
On the quiet East Moriches block where O'Sullivan grew up, next-door neighbors could not believe the news.
"That's horrible," said Barbara Cicha of east Moriches. "I don't even know what to say. I'm very shocked."
O'Sullivan's father would not speak on camera, telling TV 10/55 his son is no monster.
Before announcing the new charges Wednesday, Spota released a statement reading in part, "Today he [O'Sullivan] will learn that, upon conviction, he will be in prison for decades."
O'Sullivan faces life behind bars if convicted.
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