After Christmas party Man arrested for raping co-worker
After Christmas party
Man arrested for raping co-worker
GUILDERLAND A man living in a Guilderland motel was arrested Saturday after, police say, he raped a co-worker there.
Scott J. Cole, 28, of 2019 Western Ave., the Western Motel, was charged with first-degree rape, a felony.
Cole and the complainant worked together at the Goodyear Wholesale Tire Center, in Colonie, said Guilderland Senior Investigator John Tashjian. They attended a company Christmas party Saturday and the woman agreed to drive Cole home, Tashjian said.
The woman went into Coles hotel room with him, Tashjian said, because he said hed pay her $20 for gas. Cole then sexually assaulted her, the investigator said.
The woman drove home to Schenectady, told a family member what happened, and the relative called Schenectady Police, Tashjian said. That agency contacted the Guilderland Police and Cole was arrested, Tashjian said.
"We had enough physical evidence where we felt comfortable charging him," Tashjian said.
A representative of Goodyear, where Cole worked, declined comment to The Enterprise; he also declined to say whether Cole has been fired.
A man who answered the phone at the Western Motel also declined comment. He said only that Cole rented a room there for a while.
Cole has been arrested in the past, but not for sex-related crimes, Tashjian said.
He was arrested on Oct. 16, 2004, at the 20 Mall, for petit larceny, a misdemeanor, according to a previously-printed arrest report in The Enterprise. Police said then that Cole, who was then listed as living at 22 School Road, in Guilderland Center, stole the tip container from Dunkin Donuts and he was stopped by an employee of the store.
After Saturdays arrest, Cole was remanded to Albany Countys jail without bail; he is scheduled to appear in Guilderland Town Court tonight (Thursday).
Other assaults
Earlier this year in Guilderland, police made one arrest for rape and another for sexual assault. Last year in Guilderland, a rape in March resulted in a guilty plea 10 months later.
After he pleaded guilty, Steven Masters Jr. was sentenced in January to 40 years in prison for raping a Guilderland woman. Masters was earlier sentenced to another 40 years for rape and attempted rape in Schenectady County.
The Guilderland crime was on March 9, 2004. Then, a Woodlake Apartment resident reported to police that a man knocked on her door and, when she unlocked it, he forced his way in and raped her.
After she was attacked, the woman immediately called Guilderland Police. Soon after, Guilderland investigators teamed with Rotterdam and Niskayuna police. They determined that the three incidents were linked because the suspect showed the same modus operandi, Guilderland Police Chief James Murley said after the arrest.
Police then found Masters because of his car. A few Rotterdam residents reported seeing a dark-colored Jaguar in the area on the night the woman said she was raped, Murley said earlier.
Police began to search for all local residents who had Jaguars, he said; there were about 800. Masters later solicited a prostitute for sex, Murley said, and, working with police, the prostitute wrote down Masterss license-plate number. Soon after, Masters was arrested.
This September, a man, 28, was arrested for raping his 14-year-old neighbor in his Church Road trailer. And, last month, a father and his girlfriend were charged with sexually assaulting the mans two young daughters.
