NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Authorities have identified a man they arrested in Connecticut on suspicion of being responsible for rapes and other attacks on 17 women since 1997 and dubbed the East Coast Rapist.
Police spokesman Joe Avery says 39-year-old Aaron Thomas of New Haven was arrested Friday afternoon at his home by the U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force.
Avery says Thomas “has been identified as the East Coast Rapist.”
U.S. Marshal Joe Faughnan (FOR’-nuhn) says a lead from authorities in Virginia led them to Thomas.
Authorities recently started posting sketches of the suspect on electronic billboards in states where attacks occurred, including Connecticut, Virginia, Maryland and Rhode Island.
