GUILDERLAND — Carlos X. Quinones Jr., 17, who was arrested on by Guilderland Police for brandishing a handgun in the Crossgates Mall parking lot last Saturday afternoon, was out on bail at the time, charged with rape, according to the Albany County Sheriff’s Office and the Albany County District Attorney’s Office.

The gun was displayed but not discharged, and no one was hurt, according to Guilderland Police.

The Feb. 16 charge, for second-degree menacing, a misdemeanor, stems from a meeting arranged so that Quinones, of 32 Fuller Terrace in Albany, could buy vape cartridges from the teen who called police, according to the complaint filed in Guilderland Town Court. Quinones placed “the victim in fear of physical injury and/or death by pulling out a black handgun and waving said gun around near the driver’s door,” the complaint says.

He believes Quinones confronted him with a gun because of a fight he had had the previous day with Quinones’s friend, the complaint says.

Court Clerk Jennifer Stephens provided The Enterprise with a copy of the complaint, with the name of the complainant redacted because, she said, of his age.

Quinones was arraigned in Guilderland Town Court before Judge Denise Randall on Feb. 16 and released under the supervision of the Albany County Probation Department, according to Stephens. A public defender represented Quinones at the arraignment, and he is due back in Guilderland court on Feb. 28, she said.

Sex charges

The earlier charges were brought by the Albany County Sheriff’s Office, said Investigator Amy Kowalski of that office’s Criminal Investigations Unit. Kowalski said that the Green Island Police Department took the initial report, but soon turned over the case to the sheriff’s office.

The earlier crimes are alleged to have occurred in Green Island.

On Oct. 1, 2018, Quinones was charged with one count of third-degree rape, one count of first-degree sexual abuse, two counts of first-degree attempted criminal sexual act; and one count of first-degree criminal sexual act, all felonies, according to spokeswoman Cecilia Walsh of the Albany County District Attorney’s Office.

The crimes took place over the course of that year, said Kowalski, adding that investigators interviewed five different female victims who were all under the age of 18.

One victim came forward first, Kowalski said, and during the course of the investigation, other victims came forward. Each was interviewed separately, she said.

The case is open and pending prosecution in the felony Special Victims Unit at Albany County Court, said Walsh.

The court set a $15,000 bail when Quinones was arraigned, Walsh said, and he was released from custody after posting bail.

Quinones was 16 at the time of the alleged sex crimes and at the time of his arrest on Oct. 1, 2018. That is the same day New York State’s Raise the Age law went into effect.

The first phase means 16-year-olds, in general, will no longer be charged or tried or held as adults. As of Oct. 1, 2019, the law will extend to 17-year-olds as well. Police do not release the names of youth charged under Raise the Age.

However, Quinones is being tried as an adult for two reasons: The new law applies only to crimes committed on or after Oct. 1, 2018, said Walsh, and the crimes with which Quinones is charged are alleged to have occurred before that.

The other reason, Walsh said, is that criminal sexual acts are among the crimes for which a 16-year-old would be likely to be charged as an adult under Raise the Age, unless there were mitigating circumstances, such as, for instance, that the crime was committed by more than one person, with the 16-year-old playing a relatively minor role.