Man Convicted in Internet Kidnap, Rape of Teen
by Chau Lam, staff writer, Originally published by Newsday, December 7, 2002
James Warren showed no reaction Friday when a Nassau County Court jury in Mineola found him guilty of kidnapping, raping and sodomizing a 15–year–old Massachusetts girl he met over the Internet in the summer of 2001.
The jury deliberated for about 10 hours over a three–day period and convicted Warren, a computer repairman from Hampton Bays, on all but two charges in the 65-count indictment.
"He was a predator taking advantage of an innocent young girl," jury foreman Robert Rubalsky said Friday in an interview outside the courthouse.
Rubalsky, a retired biology teacher, said the jury believed Warren, 42, did not intend to kill the girl when he choked her with a rope during sex or when he placed a plastic bag over her head and held it tight until she passed out. The jury cleared Warren of two counts of attempted murder.
Prosecutors said on Aug. 3, 2001, Warren and his former lover, Beth Loschin, 47, drove to a shopping mall in Wrentham, Mass., a suburb south of Boston, to meet the teenager and bring her to Loschin's home in Farmingdale to have group sex. The couple held the girl captive and subjected her to a week of sexual abuse. For two days during the same week, Warren and Loschin "loaned" the girl to a friend, Michael Montez, 35, of Astoria, who also raped and sodomized the girl.
On Aug. 10, the girl used her cell phone to call Wrentham police, who alerted Nassau County police. Warren and Loschin were arrested that same day.
Loschin, who had pleaded guilty to raping and sodomizing the girl, is awaiting sentencing. Montez also pleaded guilty to rape and sodomy charges and is serving a 9–year prison sentence.
The girl, now 16, and her mother came to Mineola and testified at the trial, but they were not in court Friday to hear the verdict. Assistant District Attorney Gregg Turkin delivered news of the conviction to them by telephone.
Turkin said the girl's response was somewhat subdued.
"Mom was very, very pleased," Turkin said.
The girl and her mother are mulling whether to attend Warren's sentencing, which Court of Claims Justice Alan L. Honorof, who presided over the trial, has scheduled for Jan. 15, Turkin said.
Warren, who sources said turned down a plea deal that would have sent him to prison for 10 years, now faces up to 25 years to life just on the first–degree kidnapping charge. Warren could face more prison time if Honorof orders Warren to serve consecutive sentences for some or all of the offenses.
Warren's attorney, Dennis Kelly of Mineola, said his client plans to appeal the jury's verdict.
"Certainly I am disappointed," Kelly said, adding that he felt jurors should have also found Warren not guilty of kidnapping, particularly when the girl testified that she had many opportunities to flee her captors or call for help but didn't.
The jury foreman said he believed Warren knew the girl was underage, despite Warren's denials, because prior to meeting the girl, Warren sent her an e–mail, telling her to say she was 18 years old.
"He was assigning her a new birthday," Rubalsky said.
Rubalsky described the girl as intelligent but someone who was deeply troubled, even before she met Warren and Loschin. The girl was confused about who she is and what she wanted, Rubalsky said, all of which made her very vulnerable and Warren took advantage of her.
