Police are searching for a serial rapist suspected in a string of at least six sexual attacks and robberies countywide. The crime wave that began in June 2008 has targeted Asian women in their homes, including a Nov. 7 assault in the Mesa Housing complex at UC San Diego. According to San Diego Police Department (SDPD) detectives, in the latest case the rapist attacked a woman returning home with an 18-month-old child April 28 at about 11:30 a.m. in the 6500 block of Reflection Drive in the College Area. “The suspect\u2019s method of operation is similar in all of the cases: attacking women shortly after they return home,” police reported. “The suspect enters through an open garage or front door, generally while the victim is carrying items into the home.” SDPD and UCSD police are collaborating in an effort to catch the predator. UCSDPD Detective Melissa Collins said the attacker \u2014 described in the latest case as a Hispanic male, about 30 years old, 5 feet 6 inches tall with a medium build \u2014 targets Asian women, robbing them but not always sexually assaulting them. Collins said victims were having a difficult time identifying their attacker, but police may have made some headway toward catching him, she said. “He approaches from the rear,” Collins said, regarding the attacks. Police are confident the predator is the same suspect in each assault throughout the county, she added. “His MO was so similar. All of the women in the home invasion rapes have just returned home,” Collins said. “There are six that San Diego PD is tying together.” Because police believe the predator may have followed his victims home, SDPD Robbery and Sex Crimes Units said women should be aware of their surroundings, especially when returning home alone. “Look in the rear-view mirror of your vehicle to make sure no one is following you. When you arrive home, look for suspicious persons loitering around your home,” SDPD said in a press release. “If you see someone suspicious, drive around the block and make sure the person has gone. If he is still there, drive a safe distance away and call police.” Police said women should keep their garage door closed and doors locked. Collins said that if women believe someone is following them, they should not hesitate to call authorities. “Don\u2019t be embarrassed,” Collins said. “Drive to the police station, to the fire station.” Collins said she encourages women to insert the campus police number \u2014 which is (858) 534-4357 or 4-help on campus \u2014 into their cell phones, adding that response is quicker than 9-1-1, which calls either California Highway Patrol or SDPD. Collins said the university offers additional support, such as self-defense technique classes. “We have RAD, the Rape Aggression Defense class. It\u2019s open to all women in the community for $10 over three evenings,” Collins said, in a previous interview. “We\u2019re there to help any time we can, but in those precious seconds, if people have the tools, all the better.” Women can find information about RAD at www.police.ucsd.edu. The police emergency line is (858) 534-4357 (cell) or 4-HELP (4357) on campus. Police are asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers, (888) 580-8477; UCSDPD, (858) 534-4359; or SDPD, (619) 531-2299.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Police are searching for a serial rapist suspected in a string of at least six sexual attacks and robberies countywide. The crime wave that began in June 2008 has targeted Asian women in their homes, including a Nov. 7 assault in the Mesa Housing complex at UC San Diego. According to San Diego Police Department […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"Serial rapist strikes again; all cases show similar MO","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11551,11593],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-297563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-news","category-no-images"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297563\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}