A New Scotland man has been charged with forcibly raping and attempting to kill a 10-year-old girl.
“This is one of the most heinous crimes I’ve seen in quite some time,” acting Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple said today.
Adam M. Croote, 23, of 383 Rock Hill Road, described by investigators as an acquaintance of the victim’s family, was babysitting the girl after school Monday when the incident occurred. Croote twice tried to snap the victim’s neck, Apple said, but the girl fought and screamed and Croote fled, investigators said.
“Thank God she was basically able to fend him off,” Apple said. “She saved her own life. She’s a remarkable young girl.”
The victim was treated at Albany Medical Center and is now home with family, investigators said.
“She’s got a lot of healing ahead of her, physically and emotionally,” Apple said.
Croote is a level 2 sex offender, convicted in 2005 of a crime involving a 25-year-old woman. That offense did not involve force or a weapon, according to the New York State Sex Offender Registry.
Croote, who is reportedly unemployed, was arrested by state police later Monday and faces six felony charges — second-degree attempted murder, rape, sexual abuse, aggravated sexual abuse, criminal sex act and second-degree strangulation– as well as misdemeanor counts of forcible touching and criminal obstruction of breathing.
Croote was arraigned in Berne Town Court and sent to the Albany County Jail without bail.
Categories: Schenectady County
