XPost: talk.politics.guns, oh.general, talk.politics.misc   
   XPost: alt.abortion, sac.politics   
   From: burn@baby.burn   
      
   https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/fancy_images/OHAG/20   
   6/06/920105/948874/jonasrhodes_crop.jpg   
      
   (CLEVELAND)—Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor   
   Timothy McGinty announced today that a suspected serial rapist has been   
   indicted on charges linking him to the sexual assaults of seven women over a   
   period of ten years.Jonas    
   RhodesJonas Rhodes, 58, of Cleveland, is charged with 18 counts of rape and 12   
   counts of kidnapping in connection with the seven sexual assaults that   
   occurred in the Cleveland area between 1993 and 2003.   
      
   The investigation began after forensic scientists with the Attorney General's   
   Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) discovered identical DNA on seven rape   
   kits submitted for testing by the Cleveland Police Department as part of   
   Attorney General DeWine's    
   Sexual Assault Kit Testing Initiative. Because the DNA profiles did not   
   initially link to a known DNA standard in the Combined DNA Index System   
   (CODIS), BCI agents working as part of Prosecutor McGinty's Sexual Assault Kit   
   Task Force conducted additional    
   investigation to identify Rhodes as the suspect.   
      
   Rhodes allegedly targeted women who were walking in Cleveland neighborhoods   
   and, in several cases, he allegedly brandished either a gun or knife during   
   the attacks.   
      
   "Our investigation shows that this defendant is a predator who allegedly   
   attacked women over and over again whenever he saw an opportunity," said   
   Attorney General DeWine. "With his arrest, we are working toward making sure   
   that this alleged serial rapist    
   will never have the chance to hurt anyone again," said Attorney General DeWine.   
      
   “Attorney General DeWine’s insistence that all the rape kits should be   
   tested by BCI and then investigated has identified hundreds of serial   
   rapists," said Prosecutor McGinty. "This is just another in a long series of   
   indictments and arrests of    
   habitual, dangerous offenders. Our Sexual Assault Kit Task Force has used DNA   
   hits from BCI to solve more than 500 rapes. This defendant’s one-man rape   
   spree is over. Mr. Rhodes will not be raping any more women.”   
      
   Before Rhodes was identified as the source of the DNA, Prosecutor McGinty   
   indicted the DNA profile associated with the earliest cases, known at the time   
   as "John Doe II." Those indictments ensured that the suspect, when identified,   
   could be charged with    
   the cases that had passed the statute of limitations.   
      
   Attorney General DeWine launched the SAK Testing Initiative in 2011 after   
   learning that many law enforcement agencies across the state were in   
   possession of rape kits, some of which were decades old, that had never been   
   sent to a DNA lab for testing.     
   Attorney General DeWine then made an open call to law enforcement to send   
   their kits to BCI for DNA testing at no cost to them.   
      
   As of June 1, 2016, 11,000 of the 13,808 rape kits submitted for testing as   
   part of the initiative have been analyzed. The testing has led to 3,968 hits   
   in CODIS, linking crimes to offenders, identifying serial rapists, and giving   
   law enforcement    
   agencies critical evidence to help solve brutal attacks.  In Cuyahoga County   
   alone, hundreds of defendants have been indicted following DNA testing and   
   follow-up investigations conducted as part of the effort.   
      
   Attorney General DeWine will join Prosecutor McGinty tomorrow to announce a   
   separate case that is the 500th defendant indicted through the work of the   
   Cuyahoga County Sexual Assault Kit Task Force.   
      
   -30-   
      
   Media Contacts:   
   Dan Tierny: 614-466-3840   
   Jill Del Greco: 614-466-3840   
   Cuyahoga County - Joe Frolik: 216-443-7488   
      
      
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