Repeat offender busted for Bronx rape after being stopped for hopping turnstile: NYPD

A 26-year-old repeat offender was stopped for jumping a turnstile on Friday night when cops discovered the repeat offender was wanted in connection to a Bronx rape, according to the NYPD.

Zion Exum, 26, was stopped by police at the Jackson Avenue Subway station in the South Bronx at 10:19 p.m. on Friday night when officers observed him hopping a turnstile, cops said.

Investigators then found that the Brooklyn resident was wanted for a brutal rape earlier this month.

Exum allegedly approached a 25-year-old woman at 4:05 a.m. on Sept. 13 on East 212th Street in the Williamsbridge area — briefly engaging her in conversation before he dragged her to the ground and forcibly raped her, according to the NYPD.

He is now charged with rape in the first degree and theft of service for jumping the turnstile.

The suspect is no stranger to law enforcement and was even arrested in the interval between the alleged rape and being busted on Friday.

Four prior charges include a Sept. 25 assault charge, another assault in July 2025, a menacing charge from April 2024, and criminal mischief from Jan. 2021, according to the NYPD.

Records show that Exum’s Sept. 20 arrest in Queens was in connection to an Aug. 29 assault.

Police received an anonymous tip within the last three days that shared the alleged name of the suspect from the Sept. 13 rape, police sources said.