Gloversville man pleads guilty to stabbing woman on rail trail

A Gloversville sex offender has admitted to stabbing a woman walking along the rail trail about a year ago. This happened two decades after he raped a woman and was sentenced to prison.

Kristerfer Passino, 42, pleaded guilty on Friday, Aug. 23 in Fulton County Court to second-degree assault. The incident took place on Aug. 29, 2023. Passino came out of the woods at around 9:45 p.m. on the trail near South Main Street and Broad Street and attacked the woman. 

The woman screamed loud enough to stop the attack, according to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.

After surviving the assault, the woman identified Passino as her attacker, prosecutors said. Police put out surveillance photos that showed he was driving a gas-powered bicycle towing a cargo wagon.

Passino is a Level 3 sex offender, which is deemed the highest risk to reoffend. He was convicted in 2003 of rape, kidnapping, attempted robbery and placing a false bomb.

NewsChannel 13 reported at the time that police arrested Passino after he picked up a woman while walking along South Main Street around 2:30 a.m. on the morning of Jan. 5, 2023. He refused to let her out of the van, drove her to a remote area and raped her.

He was sentenced to up to 19 years in prison and released in October 2022, according to the state inmate database. 

Passino is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 8.