Man Accused in Occupy New Haven Rape to Appear in Court

Police charged England Gamble, 53, of New Haven, with sexual assault.

The man accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a tent at the Occupy camp in March will appear in court on Tuesday morning.

Police said a woman went to check on another woman she had not seen, went to the woman’s tent and called for her, but there was no answer.

At that point, she looked inside the tent and found the woman, who wasn’t able to respond, police said, so the witness yelled out to other Occupiers to call police and emergency medical services.

At some point, the victim told the witness she had been raped in a tent at the camp, police said.

Police responded to the camp and charged England Gamble, 53, of New Haven, with first-degree sexual assault and first-degree unlawful restraint.

Gamble is on the state sex offender registry for a first-degree sexual assault conviction in 1991. The registry said he was released from prison in 1996 and did not register his address. 

Members of the Occupy movement said neither Gamble nor the victim are members of the movement. They said both are homeless and set up a tent nearby.

Police have not classified Gamble as homeless, but said if the Occupy movement was not on the green, that Gamble would not have been able to set up camp there.

The attack happened as the protesters were in a battle with the city about occupying the New Haven Green. The city had given the Occupiers a deadline of noon to remove their tents, but lawyers for the Occupy group took the case to federal court, seeking a court order stop any eviction.

The Occupiers are supposed to leave at noon on Tuesday.

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