Jun 7, 2007 1:52 pm US/Central
Man Accused Of Jabbing Underage Girls' Buttocks
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. (CBS) ―
A man is accused of paying underage girls to let him jab their buttocks, and he now faces charges under a new law that specifically addresses crimes committed for sexual gratification, prosecutors said.
Frank Ranieri, 25, of Staten Island, paid at least five girls -- all between the ages of 15 and 17 -- thousands of dollars since 2003 to engage in "piquerism," a sexual fixation on penetrating the body with sharp objects, such as pins, nails and stilettos, the Staten Island district attorney's office said.
The Daily News, citing unidentified sources, reported that Ranieri was a member of the Police Academy's July 2004 class, but that he left after two months. It was not clear why.
His attorney, Vincent Martinelli, told the Staten Island Advance that the allegations were part of the teens' ongoing extortion of money from his client.
Ranieri was arraigned Wednesday in Staten Island Criminal Court on two counts of assault as a sexual felony -- a new law passed by the state Legislature in April -- for allegedly paying a 17-year-old teen about $6,000 to allow him to jab her buttocks on a number of occasions over a year and a half.
He was released on $500,000 bail and scheduled to return to court on Monday.
Assistant District Attorney Wanda DeOliveira said Ranieri offered to help get a 15-year-old girl a newspaper delivery route if she would let him pierce her behind. In other cases, he posed as a policeman to earn his victims' trust, she said.
None of the girls were seriously injured.
If convicted, under the new law Ranieri faces a maximum of seven years in state prison, extended parole after imprisonment, possible court-ordered mental health counseling and/or confinement in a state mental institution and mandatory registration as a sex offender.
Martinelli told the Staten Island Advance that he expects the charges to "melt away" quickly. "The bottom line is, the DA is calling this a sexual case. All evidence points to the fact this is not a sexual case," the lawyer said.
But prosecutors characterized Ranieri as a sexual predator with a "sick fetish." DeOliveira said prosecutors have a taped telephone conversation in which Ranieri tells a 17-year-old victim in April that he wants to use a pen to "penetrate six inches through her skin, fatty tissues, muscle and bone."
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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