Diaspora News of Thursday, 28 June 2007

Source: Potomac News

Rape Suspect Arrested In The Bronx

Kwame Boateng, the man wanted in the rape of an 8-year-old Dale City girl last week, was found in an apartment building in the Bronx, N.Y., on Wednesday morning and was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals, Prince William County police said.

After learning that Boateng, 43, was evading arrest, detectives from the county police department contacted the U.S. Marshal Service, said 1st Sgt. Kim Chinn, police spokeswoman.

Within days of launching an investigation and through mostly "old fashioned police work," the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force tracked Boateng down in the New York City area, said U.S. Marshal Barry Boright, supervisory inspector for the task force.

Then the New York Office of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force was brought in and took Boateng into custody around 10 a.m., Boright said.

Boateng is accused of luring the daughter of a family friend to his apartment at 14353 Westway Lane, Apt. 13, in Dale City, and raping her.

Boright said the suspect had lived in New York about three or four years before moving to Virginia, Boright said. He also had ties to Texas, but leads from multiple interviews all pointed to New York.

"He used multiple names and multiple identifications. He didn't have anything legit in this country," Boright said. "It kind of made it harder for us to track down."

Boateng, authorities said, had been using four different aliases to evade law enforcement.

Around 4 p.m. Friday, police say Boateng approached the girl and a 2-year-old neighbor who were playing in front of the girl's apartment, and lured the girl by saying he had some childhood pictures of her in his apartment that she needed to get, according to an affidavit for a search warrant on file at Prince William County Circuit Court.

She and the 2-year-old went to his apartment, according to the affidavit, where Boateng walked them into his bedroom and showed the victim a picture of her.

Police say Boateng then made the 2-year-old leave the bedroom and then raped the girl, according to the affidavit.

During the investigation, detectives learned that the girl had been assaulted several other times since September 2004, police said.

Police have also charged Boateng with indecent liberties and aggravated sexual battery, both of which stem from the girl's allegations of previous encounters with Boateng, police said.

According to Boright, Boateng is not wanted under any of the four names they know of. That could change, though, once his fingerprints are run through the system.

Boateng is awaiting an arraignment hearing that will be followed by extradition proceedings, police said.