Two migrants were arrested for a knifepoint rape in Coney Island – one of them was released from prison less than two months ago after sexually assaulting another woman at a city-funded shelter, authorities said Monday.
Daniel Davon-Bonilla, 24, of Nicaragua allegedly grabbed a 46-year-old woman and threw her to the ground under the Riegelmann Boardwalk around 9 p.m. on Sunday before raping her while holding a knife to her throat, police and sources said.
His alleged accomplice, identified as 37-year-old Mexican migrant Leovando Moreno, is accused of hitting the woman’s 34-year-old boyfriend with a pipe as he tried to stop the brutal attack, the sources said.
It was not the first sex crime arrest of Davon-Bonilla, who is believed to have illegally crossed the U.S. border in Texas in December 2022.
Four months later, he was arrested for allegedly raping a woman in a La Quinta hotel on Third Avenue in Park Slope that had been converted into a migrant shelter.
According to Brooklyn corrections officials and prosecutors, he spent about a year behind bars before agreeing to a deal that put him back on the streets in June.
Sunday’s horrific attack occurred near Surf Avenue and West 16th Street. A poorly lit walkway leads to a plaza beneath the boardwalk where residents say vagrants camp and which was littered with drug paraphernalia and cans of White Claw Monday.
According to sources, the victim, who told police she had been living under the boardwalk with her boyfriend for two weeks, was approached by Davon-Bonilla while she was alone.
He offered her jewelry in exchange for sex and when she refused, he attacked her, choked her and held her down while he raped her, the sources said.
The woman’s boyfriend arrived during the attack and got into a scuffle with Davon-Bonilla, but was then ambushed from behind by Moreno, according to sources.
Davon-Bonilla was charged with first-degree rape, second-degree assault, first-degree sexual abuse, menacing and illegal possession of a weapon, the sources said. He was scheduled to be arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court on Monday.
Sources at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Davon-Bonilla entered the country illegally through Eagle Pass in Texas on December 7, 2022, and was discovered by border officials as he slipped through the dense undergrowth.
He was taken into Border Patrol custody and told officials at the time that he was moving to Miami and gave them the address of a homeless shelter.
Davon-Bonilla appears to have eventually moved to New York City. Sources said he was living at La Quinta, where a criminal complaint alleges he was accused of raping a 34-year-old woman on April 3, 2023. He pulled her hair and held her down during the attack.
According to a criminal complaint, he was charged with sexual abuse, false imprisonment as a hate crime, sexual misconduct and sexual abuse.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office said it had reached a plea deal with Davon-Bonilla that would give him credit for time already served in prison in exchange for pleading guilty to second-degree assault because the victim would not testify.
City corrections officials said Davon-Bonilla was incarcerated at Rikers Island from April 4, 2023, to June 24, 2023 – putting her back on the streets less than two months before Sunday’s rape.
“After spending over a year in prison and at the victim’s request not to testify in any court proceedings, the defendant was offered a plea deal to serve time already served and to participate in court-directed programs,” a spokesman for Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said Monday.
Davon-Bonilla now faces a prison sentence of up to seven years for violating the terms of the deal in the previous case, the spokesman said.
It was unclear why Davon-Bonilla was allowed to remain in the United States after his release from prison in June.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.
Sources blamed New York’s sanctuary policy, saying it prevents U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from deporting dangerous criminals.
Sanctuary cities and states typically refuse to detain illegal immigrants accused of crimes so that federal immigration authorities can take them into custody and begin deportation proceedings.
“If sanctuary cities and states do not share immigration information or do not work well with ICE, immigration authorities will never get a chance to do their job and deport people with criminal histories and illegal residency,” a DHS source said.
Another DHS source cited the Biden administration’s limited “priorities” in enforcing immigration laws and “sanctuary cities not cooperating with ICE” as the reason for this latest crime.
“There are child molesters I cannot arrest because they are not a priority,” the source said.
Moreno is also awaiting charges of second-degree assault and illegal possession of a weapon in connection with Sunday’s attack and has been referred for a psychiatric evaluation, the sources said.
It is not clear when Moreno entered the country, but sources said he was wanted on a warrant for public nuisance in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, dating back to an incident on August 16, 2022.
The victim of Sunday’s attack was taken to Coney Island Hospital, where she was in stable condition. Her boyfriend refused medical attention at the scene, sources said.
“It’s really suspicious,” said a parks official about this section of the promenade. “You shouldn’t walk down this alley at night. Absolutely not.”
The area is popular with vagrants because there are two public toilets nearby, the employee said.
“There aren’t many places you can get under the boardwalk, but they’ll get into any space that becomes available,” he said. “If they can get under there, they’ll live under there.”
The Coney Island boardwalk is one of several places in the Big Apple that have been home to migrants who have flocked to the city’s five boroughs in recent years.
Many of them, including those kicked out of city-funded shelters, have joined the ranks of Gotham’s homeless.
“It stinks of urine and there are homeless people smoking drugs,” said mother Nicole Sideova, who was pushing her 11-month-old daughter in a stroller along the promenade on Monday afternoon.
“Dangerous people,” said Sideova. “It’s like a trap. Once you go down there, there’s no escape.”
Additional reporting by Kevin Sheehan, Amanda Woods and Desheania Andrews
