NEW TWIST IN QUEENS RAPE CASE

Luis Monard, 25, was cleared by a Queens jury of forcible rape charges yesterday after a prosecutor was forced to produce a witness he had kept hidden from the defense.  Monard was found guilty of statutory rape and endangering the welfare of a child, affirming the defense's argument that he had consensual sex with a 14 year old girl on the roof of her Elmhurst building on May 17, 2001.  He faces 3 1/2 to 7 years in prison for statutory rape.

(Queens, New York)