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Riverhead man pleads not guilty to raping 11-year-old girl

By Vera Chinese

A Riverhead man is being held on $100,000 bail after Riverhead Police arrested him for allegedly raping an 11-year-old girl, officials said.

Rufino Martinez-Ortiz, 23, of Riverhead pleaded not guilty to first-degree rape in Riverhead Town Justice Court Wednesday morning.

He was arrested Tuesday and was being held for arraignment the following morning in Town Justice Court, police said.

He “had previously had forcible intercourse with an 11-year-old female in the Riverhead area,” police said in a press release. Police said Mr. Martinez-Ortiz knew the victim and that it was not a random attack. Police did not release additional details involving the incident.

The girl was not identified because she is a minor and an alleged sex crime victim.

Wearing a gray “wife beater” tank top and with his hands cuffed being his back, Mr. Martinez-Ortiz was mostly silent and spoke through a translator during his appearance.

Riverhead Town Justice Richard Ehlers issued an order of protection for the victim. He set bail at $100,000 in part because Mr. Martinez-Ortiz had no identification on him.

Vera Chinese has been the editor of northforker.com and northforker magazines since May 2014. Prior to that she spent two and a half years as a staff reporter for the New York Daily News. She joined the Riverhead News-Review as a staff writer in January 2010 and was named Associate Web Editor nine months later. She previously worked for the Southampton Press Western Edition and was named the third place 2008 Rookie Reporter of the Year by the New York Press Association. She graduated from Wagner College in 2006 where she received a bachelor's degree in English. She earned a master's degree in English education from New York University in 2007. She is a 2002 graduate of Eastport High School and has lived on the East End for more than 20 years.

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