Arrest Made In ‘Georgetown Cuddler’ Rape Case

A person who police consider is a infamous sexual predator who broke into the properties of quite a few younger ladies close to the Georgetown and College of Maryland campuses and raped them whereas they slept has been arrested.

Ernesto Mercado, 54, was charged in reference to 5 home-invasion sexual assaults from 2008 to 2012 within the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The Metropolitan Police Division in Washington mentioned that his DNA additionally related him to a sixth assault in Maryland in 2009.

His arrest marks an enormous break for chilly case investigators attempting to determine the person often called the “Georgetown Cuddler,” a nickname that unfold amongst college students even because it was extensively criticized for seeming to downplay the seriousness of the assaults.

A detective with the Metropolitan Police Division condemned the “cuddler” time period in a information convention Wednesday and mentioned it brought on extra hurt to the victims.

“This man is a predator, and his intent was to not ‘cuddle’ his victims. As an alternative, his intent was to rape them. And it was solely after they would get up that the assault would finish and he would flee,” MPD detective Alexander Mac Bean mentioned.

JHB reached out to the legal professional listed on courtroom paperwork as representing Mercado however didn’t obtain an instantaneous response.

Investigators mentioned that DNA collected within the victims’ sexual assault forensic exams was analyzed within the FBI’s nationwide database of DNA profiles and was decided to belong to the identical man. As a result of he didn’t have a prison historical past, nevertheless, they couldn’t determine him.

Mercado was ultimately recognized utilizing genetic family tree methods, amongst different instruments, investigators mentioned.

The crimes Mercado is charged with passed off in June 2008, July 2009, February and August 2010, and August 2012. All occurred late at night time or simply earlier than daybreak, Police Chief Pamela Smith mentioned on the information convention.

The attacker gained entry to the victims’ properties in varied methods, together with chopping a window display screen, smashing a glass door panel and eradicating a window air con unit.

Nothing was taken throughout the dwelling invasions, investigators mentioned in courtroom paperwork. In a single case, a sufferer’s laptop computer and iPad had been nonetheless on the mattress the place she had left them earlier than going to sleep, police mentioned.

After figuring out Mercado as a suspect, investigators tried to acquire his DNA surreptitiously to find out if it was a match with the DNA discovered on the victims. They positioned a GPS tracker on his automobile and put in a pole digicam on the block the place he lived in Arlington, Virginia, to trace his actions, however didn’t get hold of a viable pattern. In the end, they obtained a search warrant to carry out a cheek swab on Oct. 1 and despatched it to a lab for testing together with a semen pattern collected from one of many victims. The lab mentioned they matched.

Mercado graduated from the College of Maryland Faculty Park in 1995, authorities mentioned, and lived in Faculty Park from 2002 to 2007. His home was a few mile from the place the third sufferer was assaulted. He has lived in Arlington since 2012.

Mercado was charged with eight counts of felony sexual abuse. He might face a sentence of life in jail if he’s convicted of sexual offenses associated to 2 completely different victims, U.S. Legal professional Matthew Graves mentioned Wednesday.

Investigators additionally consider that Mercado could also be related to dozens of extra crimes that haven’t been linked “forensically,” together with different home-invasion sexual assaults, burglaries and voyeurism in Georgetown and Faculty Park from not less than 2006 to 2012.

Investigators mentioned they’re persevering with to analyze comparable unsolved crimes in these areas throughout this time-frame and are asking anybody who was a sufferer of sexual assault or who might have info associated to those or different instances to contact the police.

Mercado is being held with out bond. A preliminary listening to is scheduled for Oct. 10.