''Retail Rapist'' sought in greater Cincinnati

Just what are businesses that choose to deny their employees and customers their right to self-defense trying to protect them from? Note that this violent criminal ignored the 150-year-old concealed carry ban while commiting his horrible acts. Of course, his defenseless victims were dutifully obeying the law.

April 23, 2004
Cincinnati Post

Search is on for rapist

Piercing blue eyes. Disarming personality. An engaging conversationalist.
It sounds like the description of a movie star, but it is, in fact, how FBI
officials describes a serial rapist they hope the public will soon help them
find.

Earlier this month, the FBI formally joined 10 other police agencies from
three states to investigate eight robbery and sexual assault crimes over the
past 12 years in the tri-state. All but two occurred in the last six months at
stores and restaurants near interstate highways.

The FBI has linked four of the crimes through forensic evidence and is
currently investigating four others that appear to be similar, said FBI
Northern Kentucky Office Supervisor Bill O'Leary.

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"He is a white male who preys on employees who are working alone in strip
malls or shopping plazas near the interstate. He engages them in conversation.

He is well-spoken, clean-cut. -- The conversation is sometimes seeking
employment or (he's) acting as a customer -- it's very disarming. He does not raise the suspicion of the victim."

O'Leary said the man typically has left after five- or 10-minute chats, only to return later and force employees to back rooms, where he's assaulted them.

All but two of the crimes have involved a sexual attack. And all of the crimes
involved robbery, except for a Devou Park sexual assault police think the same
man might have committed in 1999.

Unspecified forensic evidence has linked that assault to three others -- in
February 1992 at a Colerain Township, Ohio, Shoe World; in January 2004 at an
Aurora, Ind., Payless Shoes; and in February 2004 at a Cold Spring Subway
restaurant. Four other attacks in November 2003 and January and February this
year in Ohio and Kentucky involved a man of the same appearance and methods,
police said.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.

Fort Wright Police Chief Dan Kreinest said he contacted the FBI after a
robbery at the Superior Cleaners in his city showed similarities to several
previous attacks. Local, regional and federal investigators now hope that the
public will use the composite sketches and other detailed information that
victims have provided to help find a suspect.

"We feel we've got good forensic evidence so that we'll be able to identify
him if we get the right phone call," said Kreinest.

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Kreinest called the public's attention to the key new piece of evidence from
the robbery in Fort Wright in February -- the suspect was seen leaving in a
maroon station wagon with Ohio bicentennial plates. O'Leary said the public
should also take note of the lapse between crimes linked to the same man
between February 1992 and February 1999.

"He might not have been in the area from 1992 to 1999," he said. "That may be
a clue to who this individual is."

O'Leary said other than seeking lone female employees, the man does not appear
to be selecting victims with any other striking similarities. Most victims
were bound by their attacker, however. O'Leary would not say whether police
had obtained images of the suspect from video surveillance cameras.

He cautioned that the man, who has typically showed a small silver handgun,
should be considered very dangerous.

The FBI said a serial rapist believed to have struck in Ohio, Kentucky and
Indiana is white, in his mid- to late-30s, 5-foot-6 to 6-feet tall, with
medium build, dark brown hair and distinctive blue eyes. He is wanted in
connection with eight crimes:

• February 1992 -- Shoe World, Colerain Township, Ohio, robbery and sexual
assault.

• February 1999 -- Devou Park, Covington, KY, sexual assault.

• November 2003 -- Grove City, Ohio, GNC, robbery, sexual assault.

• January 2004 -- Aurora, Ind., Payless Shoes, robbery, sexual assault.

• January 2004 -- Grant County, KY, Big Dog Sporting goods, robbery, sexual
assault.

• January 2004 -- Fayette County, Ohio, Van Huesen Clothing, robbery.

• February 2004 -- Cold Spring, Subway restaurant, robbery, sexual assault.

• February 2004 -- Fort Wright, Superior Cleaners, robbery.

Anyone with information about the man is asked to call Crimestoppers at (513)
352-3040, the Joint Agency Tip Line at (859) 334-3500 or the FBI at (859) 341-
3901.

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