The man charged with assaulting an NYU student was reportedly found squatting in the penthouse of a university-owned building, where he was arrested on Tuesday for stealing belongings from residents’ unlocked apartments.
In a Thursday evening universitywide email, campus safety head Fountain Walker said that NYU received notice of three burglary reports Tuesday morning at 2 Washington Square Village, part of a faculty residential complex between Bobst Library and the Paulson Center. The New York City Police Department conducted a search of the building and found 45-year-old James Rizzo in an unoccupied apartment with items stolen from six residents, including laptops, headphones, a suitcase and other belongings.
The burglaries were only attributed to Rizzo after footage of him slapping an NYU student’s buttocks on Monday was reviewed by police. He was then identified and charged with persistent sexual abuse, forcible touching and assault.
“It is troubling — and unacceptable — that an unauthorized individual was able to gain access to a faculty housing building; we are now investigating how it happened,” Walker wrote. “We are also ensuring that apartments undergoing construction or that are otherwise unoccupied are locked henceforth.”
NYU is investigating how Rizzo gained unauthorized access to the building, which primarily houses faculty and graduate students but does not scan IDs. Walker added there were “no indications” that Rizzo “was in the building for an extended period of time,” and that Campus Safety is working with building contractors to strengthen security and ensure that all unoccupied apartments are locked.
When asked for comment, the university referred WSN to Walker’s Thursday email.
Rizzo’s criminal charges reportedly date back to the 1990s, when he was charged with attempted murder after beating and stabbing a man in Brooklyn. He was released from state prison in September, where he served two years for a persistent sexual abuse charge, and allegedly shoved a woman’s face into a window last week in Midtown.
Rizzo was arraigned Wednesday evening and pled not guilty for charges related to sexual assault. He is now being held without bail and is scheduled to appear in court again on Monday.
Contact Leena Ahmed at [email protected].