Nassau County District Attorney Denis Dillon announced that Elwin Alcantara, 20, the New Cassel man who raped a college student in 2001 and then, in 2003, was caught having sex with a 13-year-old girl, was sentenced to nine years in prison and five-years-post-release supervision by Nassau County Court Judge Jerald Carter.

According to published reports, Alcantara was one of two men Nassau prosecutors said sexually assaulted the student, then 20, as she was walking home alone from the Westbury train station in November 2001. According to Dillon, Alcantara and his accomplice, who is still at large, grabbed the woman, dragged her into an alley off Union Avenue before beating and raping her.

Dillon stated that Alcantara was caught by an East Meadow School District security guard on Aug. 19, 2003 having sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl. "The girl was taken to an area hospital where a rape kit was collected because of her age," said Dillon. "A sperm fraction from this case was analyzed by the new Nassau County Department of Forensic Genetics Lab. The fraction was entered into a database where the lab received a perfect match to a Nov. 21, 2001 violent rape in Westbury."

According to Dillon, the two cases were combined and on Oct. 18, 2004, Alcantara pleaded guilty to first degree rape in satisfaction of both cases and in exchange, prosecutors dropped other charges, including second-degree assault, attempted robbery and escape and statutory rape.

This case became the first cold case solved with the help of the Nassau County Department of Forensics Laboratory. The present whereabouts of the second suspect is still under investigation.