A janitor who worked at a public school in Brooklyn has been arrested on rape charges, according to police.
The police arrested 51-year-old Hernan Zapata at the middle school where he worked within the 88th Precinct, which encompasses the neighbourhoods of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill at 3.46pm on Saturday.
Authorities booked Zapata for allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl inside of an office at the school at some point during the day on Saturday. The teen, who according to a police force was a former student at the school and was meeting a third party in the building when the incident occurred.
Michelle Zapata, Zapata’s 21-year-old daughter said her father who is a married man and with two kids, would not commit such a heinous act.
“This is the craziest thing that has happened to us. There’s no way he would do this. He’s not capable of something like this. He comes straight home after working, when he’s not working, he’s with us,” Michelle Zapata said at the family’s Jackson Heights apartment.
“(He worked there) close to 17, 18 years. Everyone knows him, go to the school, everyone will know him. They will all say good things,” Zapata said through sobs, declining to identify the school where her father works. “I don’t know why anyone would say that. Whoever said that is going to hell.”
Zapata was charged with rape, sex abuse, sexual misconduct, unlawful imprisonment, and assault.
Police were investigating and withheld the name of the school to protect the victim, authorities said.
