A New Yorker convicted of a sex crime involving an 11-year-old has moved into the Village of El Cortez.
Michael Albertsen, 54, last week registered a permanent address at 806 Cortez Ave., according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
He was convicted Feb. 20, 2017 in Queens, N.Y. of attempted course of sexual conduct against a child.
Albertsen had been arrested Aug. 5, 2016 by the NYPD Queens Special Victims Squad for sexually abusing the victim multiple times between Dec. 4, 2011, and Dec. 2, 2013. The abuse reportedly began when the girl was 11.
While he was free on bond, Albertsen approached the girl, who was then 15.
She was walking to school when Albertsen, who was in a car, pulled up next to her and told her to get in. The girl began screaming, prompting Albertsen to open the door and repeat his demand that she get inside. She got in and Albertsen drove away, according to press accounts at the time.
Albertsen ordered the girl to write a letter stating that nothing ever happened, and that police and prosecutors coerced her into filing charges against him. Albertsen reportedly told the girl he wanted “to be a family again.” The girl eventually broke free and ran.
Albertsen was arrested on Sept. 20, 2016 and charged with unlawful imprisonment, coercion, tampering with a witness, endangering the welfare of a child and criminal contempt for violating a restraining order against him.
Albertsen, who stands 6 feet tall and weighs 210 pounds, has registered a 2012 blue Harley-Davidson motorcycle at his new home in The Villages. The license plate number is MGXJ33.