Allah must have been watching.
The live-in janitor at a Selden mosque sexually attacked a 13-year-old boy inside the place of worship, police said Thursday.
Suffolk County Police learned of the April assault last month after the boy confided in "someone close to him" while on a trip away from Long Island, said Detective Sgt. Michael Fitzharris.
"The assailant was a fairly large man who basically took this young boy by the hand and forced him into a private room, where he subjected him to sexual contact," Fitzharris said.
"The boy was at the mosque for some type of instructional classes," said Fitzharris.
Cops charged Niamatullah Ibrahim, 53, with first-degree sexual abuse and third-degree aggravated sexual abuse following a one-month investigation.
The custodian pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday in Suffolk County 1st District Court in Central Islip. He was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail, or $300,000 bond.
Ibrahim, who travels once a year to Pakistan to visit his wife and young children, has worked and lived at the mosque on Park Hill Drive for eight years, said Mayyer Imam, president of the Islamic Association of Long Island, which operates the Islamic Selden Mosque.
Imam said Ibrahim has been trying to move his family to Long Island from Pakistan.
"I'm in shock. I don't know what to really say. It is very disturbing news," Imam said. "I had no idea anything like this could happen with him. We'll just have to wait and see."
Imam said the mosque will hire counselors to interview children and parents to check for other possible victims.
Fitzharris said that Ibrahim does not have any prior arrests.
Regarding whether there may be other young victims of abuse at the mosque, Fitzharris added "It's definitely something that we're checking into."
Topic: 13-Year-Old Boy Molested in New York Mosque (Read 2266 times)