N.Y. man charged in fake cabbie attempted sex assault case

NEW YORK - Police have arrested a man they say posed as a cab driver and tried to sexually assault a woman outside a homeless shelter, reports CBS New York.

Pedro Vargas, of Yonkers, N.Y., was taken into custody Thursday night and charged with two counts of felony assault and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, according to the station. Police said the attack, which took place in Queens over the weekend, was captured on surveillance video.

The unidentified woman told authorities that she and her three children - ages 5, 3 and 1 - got into the suspect's dark-colored sedan in Manhattan around 2 a.m. Sunday. She said the man told her that he was a livery cab driver.

When they arrived at the homeless shelter at about 2:45 a.m., police said the man tried to sexually assault the woman.

CBS New York reports that the surveillance footage shows the suspect lifting a child out of the back seat of the car and leaving her on the sidewalk. The mother then gets out of the vehicle with a second child but gets into a struggle with the suspect. That's when police say the man elbowed one of the children in the head.

Seconds later, the suspect gets back into the car, grabs the third child and throws him onto the sidewalk, according to the video. He then jumps into the driver's seat and takes off.

The station reports the victim called out for help.

"She was panicking," Aaron Ling, who lives in the neighborhood, told CBS New York. "She kept screaming, 'Police, police!' I ran over... because I thought someone was dying or something."

Two of the three children were treated for minor injuries, according to the station.

Police said they haven't found any record of Vargas being a licensed livery cab driver.