54th Street and Skillman Avenue, where Matthew Luna allegedly raped a 20-year-old woman on Feb. 15. (Google Maps)
Feb. 20, 2019 By Nathaly Pesantez
The Long Island City man arrested on Monday after allegedly raping a woman on Skillman Avenue last Friday could spend up to 25 years in prison if convicted, according to the Queens District Attorney’s office.
Matthew Luna, 27, faces charges including first-degree rape and first-degree criminal sexual act after allegedly following a woman near 54th Street and Skillman Avenue on the evening of Feb. 15, throwing her against a car, and raping her.
Luna, according to the DA, followed the 20-year-old victim after she got off the bus near the Woodside intersection at around 10:30 p.m. that night and asked her for directions to a nearby subway station.
He then told the victim that she was pretty and asked for a hug.
Matthew Luna (NYPD)
The victim, startled, backed away from Luna, who allegedly grabbed her arms and uttered. “Just give me what I want so I don’t have to kill you,” the DA said.
Luna then struck the 20-year-old, shoved her against a parked car, ripped off her clothes from the waist down and sexually assaulted her. He is also alleged to have thrown her to the ground when he raped her.
The victim was taken to a local hospital, where she was treated for her injuries.
Luna was arrested three days after the alleged rape, turning himself into police in a case that shook the neighborhood and beyond. The defendant, according to the DA, surrendered after video surveillance and photos of him became widespread.
“The defendant viciously attacked an unsuspecting woman shortly after she exited a bus in Sunnyside,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. “This was a violent assault that should not have happened. Every woman should feel safe — day or night — traveling throughout Queens County. The defendant is in custody and will be held accountable for his alleged actions.”
Luna, who was arraigned last night, is due back in court on March 15.
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16 Comments
That’s the son of the cocaine dealing Yvonne Luna in College Point Queens. Put that whole scumbag family away
Wow, this is right next to PS11…
Although unsurprising, this is still just terrible.
Why is it unsurprising? The 108th precinct has a relatively low crime rate – including rapes (12 for all of 2018). Of course, even one is terrible.
Crazy how priests hide right in front of people and yet Blacks and Latins are quickly disposed of. New York City should prosecute all these priests living and dead. Otherwise this whole thing is an absolute scam.
https://sunnysidepost.com/nearly-20-priests-who-served-in-woodside-sunnyside-and-lic-parishes-named-for-sexually-abusing-children-diocese
That’s the elephant in the room, the one nobody talks about.
Law Enforcement, The Judiciary, and the Catholic Church make a formidable triumvirate.
It’s one thing to capture and prosecute a street thug who’s stupid enough to get caught on camera; quite another to bring a serial sex abuser to justice when he commits his crimes behind closed doors; betraying the trust placed in him by parents and the community, and protected by all levels of the Church and Criminal Justice System.
If Luna is guilty, may he never taste freedom until he’s too old to attack another innocent victim. And if justice were properly served, the same for every pedophile Catholic priest who ever drew a breath of air in Sunnyside, Queens, and New York.
Are you related to Luna?
If not, then why are you trying to deflect us away from the AGGRAVATED rape that he’s accused of by bringing up the grooming and pederasty in the Catholic Church?
It’s as if you’re saying that his crimes shouldn’t be reported on because the crimes of others weren’t reported on at the time that they happened. Of course you must understand the difference between sudden violent rape and the subtle, systemic, sexual contact with needy minors in their trust that clergy are accused of.
Assuming that you live in the neighborhood I’d expect that you would like to know what’s really going on to keep your loved ones safe?
I’m not related to Lunatic, are you?
If you’re reading the same Sunnyside Post , you will see the headline on the left side of the page which links to the Pedophile Priest story!
Both cases are plain for all to see; what I question is the level of public attention, as well as public resources, being allotted to each.
One the one hand we have a maniac who has rightly earned the enmity of the readership by his brazen acts, and will surely be held accountable by the judicial system.
On the other is a list of 108! sexual criminals who have raped and sodomized the children of Queens for the past 50 years or more, none of whom has ever or will ever face criminal charges of any kind!
I question why You would deflect public outrage to a lone madman, and ignore a tremendously wealthy, powerful and influential Institution that fosters child sexual crime by its pampered, pompous and holier-than-thou clergymen.
I feel for the female victim of the alleged lone wolf rapist.
Women should be able to walk the streets of Queens at any time without being assaulted by strangers.
Why don’t you shed a tear for the thousands of victims whose lives have been ruined by the pedophiles of the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church?
I’ll get off my soap box when the new incoming Queens DA commences a full investigation of that ongoing criminal enterprise, and announces indictments of all past and current pedophile priests.
And I hope many others will express some outrage, and demand some real action by our publicly elected officials, against this open, notorious, and outrageous ongoing crime against the innocent children of our community.
“just give me what i want so i dont have to kill you”
he’ll be hearing that a lot in prison from his cell mates.
How would you know? Spend any time in the pen? Probably not. Just another know it all.
I hope he gets the same treatment in prison, every day
Agreed, cruel and unusual sexual assault should be something that we’re comfortable with being part of our justice system.
PS11 needs to remove that one single mobile trailer left from their expansion on 54th and lock up that walkway that leads to the park after school is out.
Someone should tell the queens district attorney that the crime happened in Woodside and not sunnyside.
What does that even matter? It happened regardless.
It matters. People need to know the location. It’s like watching the news and having a reporter standing at a location which is obviously Sunnyside and speaking about an attack in Woodside. Take a second and get it right! That’s not asking a lot.