Crime & Safety

Custodian Charged With Sexual Assault At Lafayette Gardens: Cops

Leighton Phillips was arrested Wednesday for assaulting a woman in a stairwell earlier this month, according to police.

Leighton Phillips, a custodian at the NYCHA development, was arrested Wednesday for assaulting a woman in a stairwell earlier this month, according to police.
Leighton Phillips, a custodian at the NYCHA development, was arrested Wednesday for assaulting a woman in a stairwell earlier this month, according to police. (Google Maps.)

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — A New York City Housing Authority custodian was charged with sexual assault this week in Bed-Stuy, according to police.

Leighton Phillips, 44, was charged Wednesday with forcible touching, public lewdness and third-degree sexual assault for the May 10 incident, which took place in a building near Lafayette and Classon avenues, police said.

Around 9:25 a.m. that morning, Phillips, who was off-duty, followed a 42-year-old woman into a stairwell, an NYPD spokesperson told Patch.

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Phillips then pushed the woman against the wall, exposed himself, slapped her buttocks and threatened to rape her, according to the spokesperson.

The woman was able to push Phillips off and get back to her home, police said.

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Phillips was arrested Wednesday morning.

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