Cooperstown News Bureau

COOPERSTOWN - A Portlandville man has been indicted for nine felonies, including the first-degree rape of a 15-year-old girl who was found stabbed and bleeding on Interstate 88 in the town of Maryland on Aug. 30.

In an indictment handed up Friday, an Otsego County grand jury charged James M. Brown, 36, with first-degree rape, two counts of first-degree sodomy, three counts of first-degree assault, two counts of first-degree robbery and second-degree kidnapping.

Brown was in the Otsego County Jail without bail Friday.

According to the indictment, Brown abducted the girl in the early-morning hours of Aug. 30 and "held her in his vehicle by threatening to kill her."

He stole her pocketbook and its contents and seriously injured the girl "by stabbing her repeatedly in the face and burning her with a cigarette lighter," which disfigured her, the indictment reads.

Using physical force and threatening to hurt or kill the girl, Brown forced her to engage in deviate sexual intercourse, the indictment reads, and he raped her.

The girl, who is from the Binghamton area, was found by the side of the road by a truck driver in the afternoon of Aug. 30. State police then came to get her, and Brown was picked up in Duanesburg by police, who recognized his purple 1986 Pontiac from her description.

Richard Brown, Otsego County's chief assistant district attorney, said that while the girl is recovering from injuries, she may require additional medical care, including plastic surgery.

"It was a horrible crime," Brown said.

Also indicted Friday were:

• Saverio Mastronardi on two counts of first-degree rape, two counts of second-degree rape, two counts of first-degree sodomy, two counts of second-degree sodomy, first-degree sexual abuse and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

According to the first count of the indictment, which charges first-degree rape, Mastronardi "by using his superior weight and strength to push her to the bed," raped a female Sept. 7 in the town of Laurens. According to the second count, which charges second-degree rape, on that day he raped a female who was younger than 15 years old, "having been born Aug. 25, 1988."

According to the third count, he forcibly raped a female "at a residence in the city of Oneonta" in early July. The fourth count charges that he raped a female who was born Sept. 18, 1988.

The fifth and sixth counts charge him with having deviate sexual intercourse with a female in Oneonta. The seventh and eighth counts charge him with having deviate sexual intercourse with a female in the town of Laurens.

The ninth count charges him with first-degree sexual abuse, alleging that "in the latter part of June or early part of July ... on Route 7 in the county of Otsego," he "used his superior weight and strength to place his hand in the pants of a female" and sexually abused her.

The 10th and 11th counts charge that he endangered the welfare of a child by engaging in sexual contact with two underage females.

• John G. Gifford, on two counts of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. According to the indictment, the offense occurred Sept. 19 on county Route 47 in the town of Oneonta. The indictment states that Gifford had a blood-alcohol content of .14 percent.

According to William "Jack" Gibbons, Otsego County's district attorney, Gifford was convicted of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol in 1994 in Oneonta City Court.

• Kristopher J. Garrison, on two counts of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. According to the indictment, the offense occurred Aug. 17 on county Route 8 in the town of Oneonta. The indictment states that Garrison had a blood-alcohol content of .10.

According to Gibbons, Garrison was convicted of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol in April 2000 in Oneonta City Court.