State Police: UAlbany student from Long Island charged with rape

A University at Albany student from Bethpage has been arrested and charged with raping someone he knew, State Police said Friday.

Angelo N. Sciortino, 22, is accused of attacking the accuser at an off-campus residence on May 12, police and school officials said.

“Sciortino was familiar with the victim,” police said in the statement.

He pleaded not guilty after his arrest Thursday, court records show.

Police did not say whether the accuser was also a student at the university and authorities did not provide details about the alleged rape.

A University at Albany spokesman on Friday said Sciortino was an undergraduate from fall 2015 through the spring 2019 semester. He was recognized as a distinguished student by the dean for at least four semesters.

The spokesman declined to say whether Sciortino graduated Sunday, citing federal student privacy laws.

"The university was first made aware of the allegations against Sciortino on Friday morning," said the spokesman, Jordan Carleo-Evangelist. Commencement ceremonies were held the previous Sunday. 

"UAlbany has zero tolerance for sexual or interpersonal violence, and any member of our community found to have engaged in such will be subject to the harshest sanctions available to the university under the code of conduct," Carleo-Evangelist said in a statement.

Sciortino was arraigned on Thursday in Albany City Court on three counts of first-degree rape, second-degree aggravated sexual abuse, second-degree strangulation, first-degree unlawful imprisonment, and third-degree assault, according to police and court records.

Bail was set at $30,000, police said. Albany City Court Judge Holly A. Trexler ordered Sciortino back to court on May 29 for a preliminary hearing, according to court records.

Reached on the phone, Sciortino’s parents declined to comment on Friday. His attorney, Todd Greenberg of Forest Hills, Queens, did not return a call seeking comment.