An alleged perv accused of raping sex trafficked Long Island teen Emmarae Gervasi was only there for drugs — and was identified because of a photo mishap, his lawyer claimed Wednesday.
Katherine Fernandez, attorney for alleged rapist Daniel Soto, said that the 14-year-old victim identified an image of Soto that was noticeably larger than others in a police photo array.
“The case against him is weak at best,” Fernandez told The Post a day after his Tuesday arraignment on charges of second-degree rape and endangering the welfare of a child.
She added that Soto’s image, one out of six, was zoomed in on his mug at “a substantial difference” from the others.
A detective also marked the photo as resized, according to the lawyer.
“It’s clear when you look at the six photos, what ‘resized’ means is zoomed in.”
She also argued that neither Soto’s name nor “anyone who even matches the description of my client” had been mentioned in Emmarae’s initial police statement on Jan. 3, which came hours after she was rescued from a docked boat in Islip by her father, Frank Gervasi.
Sometime in December, Soto was invited to bring crack cocaine on the boat by fellow defendant Elizabeth Hunter, 34, whom he had done drugs with in the past, according to the lawyer. Hunter, after being arrested on child sex abuse charges, initially identified Soto to the authorities.
Fernandez added that Emmarae, of Patchogue, had first identified Soto after being shown the zoomed-in image within the array on Feb. 4. He was arrested on Feb. 7.
“It seems like the bulk of their case, as to my client, is the word of this minor after she was shown a photo array that is clearly unduly suggestive, and was altered, and was resized.”
Assistant District Attorney Dana Castaldo added in court that fellow defendant Hunter, 34, of Islip, had also taken explicit photos of Emma to trade her body in exchange for drugs, Newsday reported.
Hunter is charged with using a child in a sexual performance, promoting prostitution, and child sex trafficking.
Fernandez said Soto “denied any sexual contact with [the victim].” However, he told authorities he saw her nude and commented on her body, Castaldo said in court.
Fernandez added that Soto “had a history with drugs” and was “only pretty much coherent for 20 minutes” of his three-hour interview with detectives. She claimed that a detective on video first commented about Emmarae’s body before her client did.
The ADA was critical of Ferndandez saying that Emmarae’s identification of Soto was questionable.
Castaldo accused the opposing legal counsel of “victim shaming.”
“There’s been no indication that this victim has been disingenuous,” Castaldo said on Tuesday in court.
Fernandez, who said she “was in no way victim shaming,” rebutted and said, “I have to protect my client’s rights, and that means if I have to attack the credibility of anyone, I obviously will.”
Soto’s defense unsuccessfully argued that his bail, which was set at $250,000 cash or $750,000 bond, should be reduced. He is back in court on May 1.
The post Accused rapist in case of sex-trafficked LI teen Emmarae Gervasi was ID’d in ‘suggestive’ photo mishap: attorney appeared first on New York Post.
