Man jailed in rape case

The cooperation of an alleged victim and another woman leads to a quick arrest in Albuquerque.

By Arthur Simoni
Tribune Reporter

A helpful witness helped take a dangerous man off the streets, says Officer Trish Ahrensfield, an Albuquerque Police Department spokeswoman.

Joel Patrick Courtney, 38, is charged with first-degree criminal sexual penetration, kidnapping and aggravated battery after police caught up with him Tuesday at 2105 Renard Place S.E.

A woman driving south on Louisiana Boulevard near the Zuni Road intersection saw another woman running across the street wearing only a coat, the Metro Court criminal complaint states.

The driver helped the woman and called police, who were able to quickly process the crime scene due to the cooperation of the alleged victim.

"Considering what she had gone through, she was a huge factor in us finding him," Ahrensfield said. "She was able to give us a very detailed description."

The woman, a foreign student at the University of New Mexico, told police she was threatened at knife point around 6 p.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Garfield Avenue and Harvard Drive Southeast while walking home from work, the complaint states.

She was told to get into a red, two-door Honda with tinted windows. She was tied up with a shoestring, gagged with clothing and then sexually assaulted in an unfamiliar parking lot, the complaint states.

The woman was then driven to a parking lot at 414 Louisiana Blvd. S.E., where she was able to free her hands and escape, the complaint states.

A resident near the parking lot told police a friend who had been at her house about half an hour earlier drove a red Honda, the complaint states. The witness told police the friend, whom she knew as "Joe" told her "I gotta get outta here," and left in a hurry, the complaint states.

Officers in the area found a vehicle matching the description at 2105 Renard Place, where police picked Courtney up, the complaint states.

After being treated at the hospital, the woman was able to identify Courtney as her assailant, Ahrensfield said.

"This guy was a bad dude," Ahrensfield said. "We found out he had prior sex offenses in other states."

Courtney is being held at Metropolitan Detention Center with bail set at $100,000 cash-only.

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