2 men attack disabled handyman with plumbing snake in NYC

Two men brutally attacked a developmentally disabled handyman with a plumbing snake at a New York bowling alley.

Photo: 2 men attack disabled handyman with plumbing snake in NYC

Steven Rodriguez, 19, pleaded guilty last month to attempted predatory sexual assault and aggravated sexual abuse.

Rodriguez and Michael Lunsford were arrested last October after accosting the 21-year-old man in the bathroom of a bowling alley in Long Island.

State Supreme Court Justice Robert Doyle, abiding by terms of a plea agreement, sentenced Rodriguez to 20 years in prison and five years probation. Rodriguez also will be required to register as a certified sex offender when he is released, said a spokesman for Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota.

They forced the plumbing snake, which is used to unclog drains, into the worker's rectum and spun it several times, causing internal injury and bleeding, police said. The victim spent four days in a hospital.

"This was a cruel and sadistic crime with no other purpose but to torture another human being," Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said after the attack.

Lunsford, 17, who pleaded guilty to first-degree assault after admitting he held the victim down, received a sentence of 16 years in prison and five years probation.

Police said Rodriguez and the victim, whose identity was withheld, had known each other for at least five years, having met when they were at a children's psychiatric center in Dix Hills, New York.

Rodriguez "had a personal animosity toward the victim" and had bullied him during that time, police said.