New York prosecutor knows rape suspect, passes off case

CARMEL, N.Y. (AP) — A suburban district attorney has asked a neighboring county to handle a child rape case because he is acquainted with the suspect.

Putnam County prosecutor Adam Levy said Thursday in an emailed statement that he knows 35-year-old Alexandru Hossu of Southeast. His spokeswoman would not elaborate, but The Journal News reported that Hossu is the district attorney's personal trainer.

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Credit Wikimedia Commons/Daniel Case

The county sheriff announced Thursday that Hossu was arrested on charges that he twice raped a 12-year-old girl in 2010.

The sheriff said Hossu, a Romanian, is in the United States on an expired work visa.

Hossu was arraigned in Patterson Town Court and is being held in the county jail. Calls to the sheriff's office and the court, seeking the name of Hossu's attorney, were not immediately returned.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.