Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced on Wednesday, June 12, that a Bronx man has been sentenced to 12 years to life in prison for predatory sexual assault on two male victims, including a 14-year-old boy, during separate knifepoint robberies.

 

Reacting to the sentencing, Clark said, “The defendant forced himself on the victims at knifepoint and even recorded one of the assaults. We are thankful the victims [who] came forward and courageously spoke out against their attacker, so we could bring them justice.”

 

Clark said the defendant, Jaden Stephens, 21, of Eastchester Road in the Williamsbridge section of The Bronx was sentenced on June 11, by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Laurence Busching to 12 years to life in prison. She said the defendant pleaded guilty on June 1, 2024, to two counts of predatory sexual assault and was sentenced to 12 years to life for each count, to run concurrently.

 

According to the investigation, on May 1, 2022, at around 11.30 p.m., near 3126 Eastchester Road, Stephens stole a 19-year-old man’s phone at knifepoint and then performed oral sex on him without his consent. He then attempted to force the man to perform a sex act on him, and when the victim refused, Stephens punched him in the face and ran away.

 

The court heard that on May 14, 2022, at around 4.10 p.m. the defendant followed a 14-year-old boy inside Edenwald Houses, NYCHA housing project. He approached the victim with a knife and told him to go to the roof and to give him his cellphone. Stephens then performed oral sex on the victim and recorded it on his own cellphone, threatening to post the video online if the boy reported it to the authorities.

 

The case was prosecuted by Major Case Assistant District Attorney Siobhan McHale, under the supervision of Johanna Hernandez, deputy chief of the Child Abuse/Sex Crimes Bureau, Mimi Mairs, chief of the Child Abuse/Sex Crimes Bureau, and under the overall supervision of Adrienne Giunta, deputy chief of Special Victims Division and Joseph Muroff, chief of the Special Victims Division.

 

Clark thanked Homicide Assistant Johnathan Vega of the Homicide Bureau, Digital Forensics Laboratory Director Selena Ley, and Senior Sexual Assault Advocate Jeanette Gambaro of the Crime Victims Assistance Bureau for their assistance in the case.

 

She also thanked NYPD Detectives Haris Goldner and Anthony Lofaro of the Bronx Special Victims Squad, and Detectives Michael Summa and Ronald Hobson of the Bronx Warrants Squad for their work on the investigation.

 

The Bronx District Attorney’s Child Abuse / Sexual Crimes unit can be reached on (718) 838 7176.