Sex fiend Peter Braunstein, who posed as firefighter to brutally rape NYC magazine co-worker in 2005, up for parole hearing

One of the Big Apple’s most infamous sex predators could be released from prison in a matter of weeks, The Post has learned.Former fashion magazine writer-turned-sexual torturer Peter Braunstein will have his first hearing before the state Parole Board during the week of Aug.18, according to a corrections official who said an exact date has not been set.The 61-year-old onetime “Women’s Wear Daily” journo sexually brutalized a co-worker he’d grown obsessed with.

He set a fire outside the victim’s Chelsea apartment on Halloween night in 2005, and gained access to her home by posing as a responding fireman.Braunstein then chloroformed the 36-year-old woman, drugged her, stripped her naked, bound her, and sexually assaulted her over more than 13 hellish hours.

Her name is being withheld by The Post.He scrawled a mocking note on her mirror, “Bye — Hope things turn around for U soon.”Braunstein — who was on probation at the time for menacing his ex-girlfriend, the late fashion editor Jane Larkworthy — videotaped the savage sexual abuse.Braunstein went on the run after the vicious rape, becoming the most wanted man in America.The NYPD launched a nationwide manhunt, with daily headlines tracking the creep’s movements from upstate New York to Ohio.

After two months, on Dec.16, he was spotted strolling across the University of Memphis campus.“I’m the guy you’re looking for,” he shouted at university cops as they closed in.

He then stabbed himself in the neck more than a dozen times with a 3-inch blade.“[He] stated that he cannot believe that he missed [killing himself], because he did research and studied the carotid artery,” cops revealed in a statement follwing his arrest.Weeks before the start of his sensational monthlong trial, Braunstein feebly tried hanging himself inside Rikers Island.Prosecutors argued in court Braunstein was self-harming to delay the criminal proceedings.His lawyers contended he suffered from depression, and c...