David Albert Mitchell Indicted In Central Park Attack
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A grand jury has voted to indict a drifter on charges he sexually assaulted a 73-year-old birdwatcher in Central Park.
The indictment naming David Albert Mitchell was announced in court on Wednesday without the defendant there. The 42-year-old has been jailed since his arrest last week on rape and other charges.
Manhattan prosecutors have accused Mitchell of assaulting the woman in broad daylight on Sept. 12 near Strawberry Fields.
Mitchell allegedly stole the victim's backpack and camera before pushing her down into some mulch and raping her, police said.
The attack occurred about a week after she photographed him exposing himself, prosecutors said.
Authorities in West Virginia have said Mitchell has been in and out of prison since he was 18. He was arrested twice on charges of raping elderly women, suspected but not charged in the slaying of one female neighbor and acquitted of killing another.
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