Man Accused In Uptown Rape Now Charged With 2nd Sex Assault
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Police say the man accused of sexually assaulting a woman in Uptown Dallas on February 1 has now been linked to a sexual attack that happened more than a year ago.
Officials say DNA has linked Dralon Patterson to the sexual assault of a 26-year-old who was attacked as she walked to her car just before Thanksgiving 2017.
When that attack happened the woman said she'd spent the evening in the West Village and was walking in the 3100 block of Lemmon Avenue. At some point she crossed paths with her attacker -- now believed to be Patterson -- was forced into a vehicle and was raped.
She said after the attack the suspect dropped her off and she immediately went to a hospital. It was the DNA from that forensic exam that matched the DNA profile of Patterson and linked him to the attack.
Patterson was already in custody charged with Aggravated Sexual Assault for the February attack. In that case, a woman reported being approached by a man, asked how she was doing, and then raped at gunpoint in the Amli Quadrangle apartment garage near McKinney Avenue and Howell Street. The rapist then stole some cash from the woman and ran away on foot.
Another woman, only wanted to be addressed as "Leena", told CBS 11 News a man -- who she believes was Patterson -- approached her the same night the parking garage attack happened. "I could have very well been his next victim," she said. "We saw the cops driving up the street and then I saw the guy walking, just casually walking. And I yelled out from my balcony, 'That's the guy!'"
Police took Patterson into custody along Vine Street.
Dallas detectives say they are preparing the arrest warrant to charge Patterson with the 2017 Sexual Assault, but he remains behind bars accused in the February attack. His bond stands at $250,000.