By Clarence Williams
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 22, 2008

The rapist stalks his victims on the Internet, surfing popular dating Web sites and chat rooms, where he meets women and sets up sex dates. At least six times, unsuspecting Prince George's County women arrived for a date but found a masked attacker, armed with a handgun, county police said yesterday.

They said the attacks, which began in August but were only recently linked, occurred in the Temple Hills and Suitland areas and were preceded by the attacker meeting women on dating sites, including Craigslist. Authorities declined to release details about the locations of the attacks but said the most recent occurred Tuesday night in the stairwell of a Suitland apartment building.

"We want to alert women who are soliciting for sex online to use caution," said Maj. Dan Dusseau, commander of the criminal investigations division.

Several of the victims were attacked in apartment stairwells or other isolated or dark places, said Cpl. Arvel Lewis, a police spokesman. He said that the victims were adults but that their ages varied. Police declined to specify the ages.

Officers were called to a College Park address about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. There, a woman told them she had met a man in a chat room and agreed to meet him at a Suitland apartment building. When she arrived, a man with a gun assaulted her, she said.

Investigators said they linked the series of assaults after re-interviewing the victims and witnesses.

"Stranger rapes are uncommon in the county, and all of these were stranger rapes," Dusseau said. "Descriptions from re-interviewing some witnesses helped us realize the connection, including the fact that several victims met their attacker online."

Police said they want to know whether others have been assaulted and ask that anyone with information call 301-772-4908.

"We want to put everyone on alert. You're meeting people for the first time, you need to be cautious," Lewis said.