Mount Sinai Attack: Arrest Made

***UPDATES AT BOTTOM***

An arrest has been made in the rape and beating of a female bartender inside a Mount Sinai bar.

Michael Wachholder, from Rocky Point, was arrested Wednesday on rape, aggravated sexual abuse and assault charges. The 30-year-old physical education teacher in the Three Village Central School District is scheduled for arraignment Thursday.

If he's guilty I hope he gets "wrestled"-- being a Phys Ed teacher and all -- by some fellas once he's in prison.





UPDATE:

Prosecutors called Wachholder a brutal rapist and said he has a history of criminal activity. Wachholder's attorney says police have the wrong man and that his client is willing to have a DNA test done to prove his innocence.

School officials say Wachholder has been placed on indefinite leave.

Bail for Wachholder was set at $450,000.

UPDATE II:
Acting County Court Judge Patricia Filiberto also issued an order of protection for the victim, a woman who was working at the Mount Sinai tavern when she reported being sexually assaulted on Feb. 3.

Wachholder's attorney, Jim O'Rourke of Hauppauge, told Filiberto that a man who accompanied Wachholder to the bar, described as an acquaintance, was the rapist - and he is cooperating with police in order to pin the blame on Wachholder.

"There may be a rush to judgment," O'Rourke said, describing his client as a lifelong Suffolk County resident who is married with two children.

In her statement to police, the bartender said Wachholder and the other man came into the bar around 3:30 p.m. and ordered a round of drinks. They chatted with her and one of the men showed her cell phone pictures of him holding up a trout on a fishing pole, explaining that the two men had gotten out of work early that day and went fishing in Smithtown, she said in her statement.

The man who had the pictures then asked her if food was available, her statement said. She was walking toward the bar's food service area when the man came up from behind and knocked her to the ground, the statement said.

He then smashed her head against the tile floor and sexually assaulted her, according to the victim's statement.

Suffolk prosecutors said the man who was at the bar with Wachholder did not participate in the attack, so police did not arrest him. That man is cooperating with investigators, according to prosecutors.

UPDATE III:
Wachholder pleaded guilty to first degree rape, aggravated sexual abuse and assault charges. He is expected to be sentenced to 18 years in prison at his next court date on Oct. 28 before Judge Barbara Kahn.