By Ado Oyeyemi
A New York court has sentenced a 44-year-old man to five years in prison for sexually abusing the corpse of a passenger aboard a subway train in Manhattan.
The convict, identified as Felix Rojas, was sentenced on Wednesday after pleading guilty to charges connected to the abuse of Jorge Gonzalez, a 37-year-old man who died after becoming unconscious on an R train in April 2025.
According to court documents, surveillance footage showed Rojas approaching the victim after noticing he was unresponsive. Investigators also alleged that he searched through Gonzalez’s pockets during the incident.
Authorities said the suspect later surrendered to police about three weeks after the offence when he recognised himself in surveillance images released to the public.
He reportedly denied involvement when initially questioned by investigators.
In addition to the prison term, the court ordered that Rojas remain under supervised release for 15 years after completing his sentence.
Reports indicated that immigration authorities identified Rojas as a Mexican national who had previously attempted to enter the United States unlawfully on several occasions.
Family members of the deceased described Gonzalez as a hardworking and devoted father who spent nearly two decades in the United States, taking on various jobs to support relatives in Mexico.
The case attracted widespread attention across the United States, sparking concerns over security and monitoring within New York City’s public transportation system.
The incident remains one of the most disturbing criminal cases reported in the city’s transit network in recent years.
