Illegal Guatemalan migrant Rape suspect held without bail

[Whitebear]

Guatemalan Rape suspect held without bail

A court-appointed interpreter speaks to Marco Riz, at his arraignment yesterday in Kent County Superior Court.

WARWICK –– The Guatemalan man accused of kidnapping, robbing and raping a woman in June is continuing to be held without bail following his arraignment yesterday.

Marco Riz, 26, stood in a white T-shirt and baggy blue jeans before Kent County Superior Court Judge Francis Darigan yesterday and answered questions through a Spanish interpreter. His lawyer entered a not-guilty plea for Riz on two counts of first-degree sexual assault and one count each of first-degree robbery, kidnapping, assault with a dangerous weapon and second-degree carjacking.

Riz is accused of carjacking a woman as she waited in the passenger seat of her mother’s SUV outside a Stop & Shop supermarket in Warwick two months ago. Riz allegedly brandished a long knife and stole the woman’s money and credit cards, and then drove with her to Roger Williams Park, Providence. There, Riz is accused of raping her twice and then taking off.

The victim’s family watched the arraignment from the front row of the courtroom, sitting next to the Providence detective who was one of the lead investigators in the case. After an intense multi-agency manhunt over several days, the police tracked Riz to his residence at 183 Linwood Ave., Providence.

Riz, an illegal immigrant, had been ordered deported in 2004; although the order was upheld by a federal immigration judge last October, he remained in Rhode Island.

A pretrial conference is set for Oct. 8 in Providence County Superior Court. Riz is being held at the Adult Correctional Institutions. The judge granted a no-contact order.