Suspected Serial Rapist Admits To Burglary, But Not Assaults
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) - A Denver man suspected in two sexual assaults and an attempted sexual assault in Aurora appeared in court on Wednesday.
According to court documents, Cameron Washington, 30, made a confession, but only to part of the crime. Documents say he admitted to police he broke into three apartments and stole a laptop, but he denied the sex assaults.
Washington's bond was set at $50,000, which is considered low for a sex assault, but prosecutors say they're not worried because he won't be released at this time. He's being held on charges of first-degree sexual assault, first-degree burglary, felony menacing and theft.
The incidents occurred in the 900 block of South Ivory Circle and the 800 block of South Chambers Road between Nov. 22 and Nov. 30.
"They were awoken out of a dead sleep in the dark," Frank Fania with Aurora police said.
Fania said DNA evidence linked Washington to the crimes. They were able to quickly track him down since his DNA was already in the system because of a previous felony conviction. He said the CBI made the case a priority.
On Thanksgiving, a victim said she woke up to a man crouching down by her bed, showed a knife and said, "Give me your money." She gave him $60 from a jar. During the assault the suspect told the victim, "Your daughter is pretty," which scared her because her 9-year-old child was asleep in the apartment.
When the suspect left, he stole the victim's laptop computer. That laptop was later found in Washington's home, according to police.
In the second assault case, six days later, the victim said the suspect told her he wanted "money and sex" from her. She said the assault lasted 10 to 20 minutes.
Two days later another victim woke up in the middle of the night to a man standing over her. She started screaming and yelling and the suspect fled out of a window.
Prosecutors say though bond was set, Washington can't be released because he's on parole for a prior burglary.
"He's not going to be able to bond out because of the parole hold, and I want the opportunity to talk to the victims and their families to talk about how they want to proceed in the case" Arapahoe County Prosecutor Gary Dawson said.
Police say Washington's hair found at a victim's home is what helped make a DNA match.
"DNA is huge, in this case and a number of other cases. I think it goes without saying that if we didn't have his DNA on file he'd still be running around the streets probably doing the same thing again," Fania said. "Fortunately his DNA was on file and in a matter of a couple of hours we wrapped this case up. Otherwise we have an unnamed suspect."
Washington is back in court on Monday.
