http://nypost.com/2024/06/27/us-news/illegal-migrant-arrested-for-allegedly-raping-15-year-old-girl-in-his-car/
By Jennie Taer, Vaughn Golden & Emily Crane
The New York Post
June 27, 2024
A migrant from Turkey was arrested in Albany last week for raping a 15-year-old girl he forced into the backseat of his car after threatening to beat her with a metal pole, authorities said.
Sakir Akkan, 21, is accused of attacking the teen on Arch Street in the state capital in the early hours of May 14, court records obtained by The Post show.
Sakir Akkan is accused of raping a 15-year-old girl in Albany. Albany County Correctional Facility
Akkan allegedly told the girl, who was in the passenger seat of his Toyota Prius, that he’d pummel her if she didn’t get into the back, according to the filing.
Once she was inside his car, he allegedly took the girl’s clothes off and raped her, the filing charges.
The victim, who lived in a group home close to where the attack unfolded and was known to cops, suffered scratches on her legs from trying to resist the attack, according to court docs.
The teen was cut loose soon after and fled to a nearby residence for help, a police report obtained by The Times Union shows.
The suspect was finally nabbed June 18 and slapped with a first-degree rape charge, Albany cops confirmed.
Albany cops discovered Akkan’s immigration status upon fingerprinting him for the alleged rape. Hans Pennink
Court records show Akkan has an address listed in Troy, NY, but he is not a US citizen.
He was arrested by US Border Patrol agents on Nov. 5 last year after crossing into San Diego, California, illegally, a Homeland Security source told The Post.
Akkan informed agents he was trying to get to Philadelphia but failed to provide an address.
Just days later, he was released on his own recognizance due to a lack of bed space and ordered to appear in a Philadelphia court on Feb. 19, 2025, the source added.
Albany cops received an alert about his immigration status via an FBI database when he was fingerprinted in the wake of the alleged rape, according to court filings.
Akkan, who was arraigned last Wednesday and is being held without bail at the Albany County Jail, was set to face court again later Thursday.
Lawmakers have since criticized cops for not alerting the public to the alleged rape until after the local news outlet started probing — even as the suspect was on the loose for about a month.
“The reasoning shouldn’t matter, the fact the public wasn’t informed of such an atrocity is disgraceful,” New York State Senate Republicans posted on X.
“A shocking lack of concern for New Yorker’s safety.”
Akkan’s arrest adds to the slew of grim cases across the US that have allegedly been inflicted by illegal immigrants of late — including the savage murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in Texas earlier this month.
Two illegal Venezuelan migrants — Franklin Jose Pena Ramos, 26, and Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, 21 — are accused of killing the young girl after stripping her naked to the waist and assaulting her for two hours.
Jocelyn’s funeral is set to take place later Thursday.
Meanwhile, the number of Turkish migrants crossing the southern border illegally has skyrocketed under the Biden administration due, in part, to smugglers boasting on social media about how easy it is.
There were roughly 1,400 Turkish migrants encountered by border agents along the US-Mexico border in fiscal year 2021, which exploded to more than 15,000 each in fiscal years 2022 and 2023, federal data reviewed by The Post shows.
Like Akkan, most of the Turkish border crossers who came last year crossed into the San Diego region.
Some smugglers have taken to Turkish language Telegram channels to advertise such routes as they offer secure flights and travel across the border.
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
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