Published: September 25, 2008 07:45 pm      

LOCKPORT: Rape suspect arraigned after return from California

A man charged with a rape and assault that a veteran prosecutor called “the most horrific I’ve ever heard” pleaded not guilty in Niagara County Court on Thursday to a multi-count indictment.

Lennie Frankline, 33, 708 Cedar Ave., entered his plea to three counts of first-degree kidnapping, predatory sexual assault, four counts of first-degree criminal sexual act, second-degree assault, second-degree abortion and two counts of second-degree aggravated harassment in connection with an attack on his pregnant girlfriend and attempts to intimidate friends of the victim.

He was held without bail pending further proceedings on Wednesday.

Frankline was arrested in late July in Fresno, Calif. Investigators said he fled there after multiple attacks on his victim.

“I would ask for no bail,” Assistant District Attorney Doreen Hoffman told County Court Judge Matthew J. Murphy III. “Any bail he posts, we’ll never see him again.”

Falls police said Frankline and his 18-year-old girlfriend moved to the Falls from New York City in the spring. He was employed as a cook at a Perkins Restaurant.

On the afternoon of June 30, a Falls cab driver encountered the woman, running naked through the Tops supermarket parking lot on Portage Road. The cabbie covered the woman and took her to the emergency room at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center after she told him her tale of terror.

She said she had been imprisoned and repeatedly raped and assaulted by Frankline for almost 24 hours.

According to police reports, Frankline became furious when he learned the baby his 18-year-old girlfriend had been carrying was not his. The victim said Frankline tied her with plastic and wire, poured gasoline on her face and other parts of her body and attempted to set her on fire.

He repeatedly raped and sodomized her and kicked and hit her, including punching her in the stomach. Prosecutors said the punches to the stomach are the reason why Frankline faces an abortion charge,

“It was his intent to kill the baby, that would be our theory,” Hoffman said. “The facts and circumstances of this case are some of the most horrific I’ve ever heard.”

The victim also told police that Frankline filmed the attacks.

Falls police hunted for Frankline after his victim’s escape, but were unable to find him. His victim left the Falls and returned to New York City.

However, Frankline followed the woman to her home in the Bronx and again attacked her and sexually assaulted and abused her. After that incident he fled to Fresno.

While he was on the West Coast, investigators said Frankline “got into some sort of disturbance at a homeless shelter.”

“Police were called and he fought with them and was arrested,” Detective Capt. Ernest Palmer said.

Once Frankline was in custody, he was extradited back to Niagara County to face his charges here.

Prosecutors said Frankline has also been indicted by a Bronx Borough grand jury and faces undisclosed charges there.

“There is a sealed indictment waiting for him in New York City,” Hoffman said.

It’s not clear when Frankline might be taken to the Bronx to face those charges believed to include attempted murder.