A Level 3 sex offender was arrested Friday for forcing his way into a teenaged girl’s vehicle and making her drive around before she escaped, Nassau police said.
William A. Tockash
William A. Tockash, 50, of Plainview, approached the 17-year-old victim while she was parked in her vehicle outside of the Plainview Public Library on Old Country Road, asked her the time then reached in, opened the door and got in her vehicle at 6:30 p.m., police said.
Once inside, Tockash made the victim drive around the neighborhood but when the victim stopped on Joyce Lane, Tockash threw the gearshift into park and put his hands across the victim’s face and mouth, according to 2nd Squad detectives.
The victim then grabbed the keys and ran out of the vehicle while screaming for help. Tockash ran away through backyards on Joyce Lane, police said.
Second Precinct officers found a witness at the library who said she had recognized Tockash from a poster identifying him as a registered sex offender and had seen him park his white van on Rex Place.
Officers found the van and arrested Tockash as he tried to enter it. He also was found to be in possession of a gravity knife, police said.
Tockash was released from maximum-security Sing Sing Correctional Facility in 2001 after he served 20 years for a 1982 conviction on counts of first-degree rape and first-degree sexual abuse of a 48-year-old woman.
Tockash was charged with robbery, criminal possession of a weapon and unlawful imprisonment. He is being held at Nassau County jail after a judge set his bail at $75,000 cash or $37,500 bond and he is due at First District Court in Hempstead on Dec. 22.
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