Queens Tribune

Jack Rhodes, 47, of East Elmhurst, was convicted of first-degree burglary, first- and second-degree robbery – all as hate crimes – and first-degree burglary, first- and second-degree robbery, and second-degree assault, for his string of attacks in 2007, including against a woman who was 101 years old at the time.

Queens Supreme Court Justice Gregory L. Lasak, who presided over the four-week jury trial, set sentencing for Nov. 12, at which Rhodes faces between 39 and 90 years in prison.

“The defendant’s propensity to savagely accost elderly and defenseless women, two of whom needed the aid of a walker to get around, was rightly condemned by today’s guilty verdict,” DA Richard Brown said. “It is fitting that his victims – one of whom was 101 years of age at the time of the attack and is now 103, and another of whom is in her mid-80s – have been able to bear witness to the defendant being brought to justice and held accountable for his crimes.”

Shortly before noon on March 4, 2007, the superintendent of a Devonshire Road building in Jamaica confronted Rhodes who was trespassing in the basement and ordered him to leave. The super watched as Rhodes left the premises with a red, pink and black bicycle.

Less than an hour later, Rose Morat – who was 101 at the time and uses a walker– was caught on a surveillance video exiting the elevator on the main floor of her Highland Avenue building. Rhodes approached her in the vestibule and offered to open the front door for her. He then repeatedly punched Morat on the left side of her face, causing her to fall to the ground, while he demanded money from her.

Approximately a half-hour later, 85-year-old Solange Elizee, who also uses a walker, was getting on the elevator of her 170th Street building at the lobby level when she saw Rhodes already on the elevator. Elizee exited the elevator alone one level below her floor and waited for the next elevator. As she exited the elevator on her floor and entered her apartment, Rhodes blocked the door from closing and forced his way inside. Once inside, he repeatedly punched Elizee in the face, knocking her to the floor.