Defendants Participated in Rape and Sexual Assault of Trafficking Victim,
While Crime Was Being Video Recorded

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced on Friday, January 25, 2019, that Franeisha Patterson, age 25, of Newburgh and Cally Graham, age 19, of the Bronx, have been convicted after a jury trial of multiple felony charges, in connection with the December 12, 2017, forcible rape and sexual assault of a teenage girl in a Newburgh apartment. Patterson and Graham were both convicted of Rape in the First Degree and Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree. In addition, Patterson was convicted of one count of Use of a Child in a Sexual Performance. The rape and criminal sexual act charges carry a maximum of 25 years in prison. For Patterson, the charge of Use of a Child in a Sexual Performance carries a maximum of 7 ½ to 15 years in prison. All those sentences could run consecutively. The defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on April 30, 2019, before County Court Judge Craig Stephen Brown.

Two other participants in the crime, Franiqua Patterson and Daniel Wapples, previously pled guilty to felonies in connection with the crime. Franiqua Patterson pled guilty to Sex Trafficking with respect to the victim of the rape and another victim. Wapples pled guilty to the rape. Both of those other participants are pending sentence.

The rape victim was, at the time, a fifteen-year-old runaway who had been sex trafficked by Franiqua Patterson for approximately a month before the rape occurred. On December 12, 2017, the victim went to Franeisha Patterson’s apartment in the City of Newburgh, where all four defendants were present. Franeisha Patterson ordered the victim to have sex with her boyfriend, Graham. Similarly, Franiqua Patterson ordered the victim to have sex with her boyfriend, Wapples. Both women repeatedly made those demands, despite the victim’s refusal to comply. Wapples forcibly raped the victim, while Graham forcibly orally sodomized her. Franiqua and Franeisha watched the crime from a nearby couch, while Franiqua recorded the crime on her cellphone. The victim cried during the incident, and the four defendants repeatedly yelled at her, laughed at her, and cursed at her.

District Attorney Hoovler thanked the City of Newburgh Police Department for their efforts in the investigation and prosecution of the case.

“Forcible rape and sexual assault are despicable crimes, under any circumstances,” said District Attorney Hoovler, “but to participate in crimes like that, while they’re being committed against a trafficked teenager, and while they’re being recorded, that conduct sinks to another level of depravity. My office will continue to make every possible effort to prosecute those who commit sex crimes, so that juries, like the one in this case, can bring closure to sexual assault victims, and bring to perpetrators of sex crimes the justice they deserve.”

District Attorney Hoovler highly commended Senior Assistant District Attorney Maryellen Albanese and Assistant District Attorney Alexis Gregory for their prosecution of the case.

A criminal charge is merely an allegation that a defendant has committed a violation of the criminal law, and it is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the State of New York’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.