A 56-year-old man was convicted Tuesday of raping a woman in Long Beach three years ago.
A Nassau County jury found Alphonso Barnes guilty first-degree rape, criminal sexual act and sexual abuse.
Prosecutors said Barnes grabbed the victim from behind while she was walking down Magnolia Boulevard, forced her into the yard of a West Olive Street home and forcibly raped her for about an hour and a half in the early morning hours of Dec. 5, 2009.
Barnes strangled and threatened to kill the victim if she screamed. He tied her sweater around her face so she could not identify him, but investigators linked him to the attack using DNA evidence.
Barnes’ DNA was in the New York State database following prior convictions of criminally negligent homicide, attempted burglary and robbery.
He was on lifetime parole and living in a shelter in Hempstead at the time. Police arrested him when he when he went to pick up a housing voucher at the offices of the Nassau County Department of Social Services.
Barnes faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced on Sept.5.