Police Arrest Man Suspected Of Robbing, Beating, Raping 53-Year-Old Woman In Vallejo
VALLEJO (CBS SF) -- Police have arrested a man suspected of raping a 53-year-old woman in her car in a Vallejo parking lot near City Hall in September.
Maurice Vernon, 21, was arrested by Oakland police at around 12:30 a.m. on Saturday in the 300 block of Grand Avenue and booked into the Alameda County jail. He was transported to the Solano County jail today.
Vernon was wanted on a $2 million warrant for sexual assault, police said.
Vernon is a member if the Oak Park Bloods gang out of Sacramento and has prior convictions on weapons, theft and assault with a deadly weapon charges, Vallejo police Lt. Ken Weaver said.
Police arrested a second suspect in the Sept. 3 rape, Donshay Nichols, 18, on Jan. 18, Weaver said. Nichols' preliminary hearing on the rape charge is scheduled for March 5 in Solano County Superior Court.
The Vallejo woman, who was returning from a day trip to San Francisco on Sept. 3, was within sight of her car in the Vallejo Ferry overflow parking lot behind City Hall at 555 Santa Clara St. when two men grabbed her, Weaver said.
One of the men held a gun to her head and demanded jewelry and money. When she said she had no money, the suspects forcibly removed the rings from her fingers and tried to take her bracelet.
The suspects also took her wallet from her purse and after discovering her driver's license, told the woman they now knew where she lives and she had 'better not say a word about this or report this to anyone', Weaver said.
The suspects then forced the woman into her car, threatened to kill her and sexually assaulted her. The suspects then read back her name and address and threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone about the robbery and assault, Weaver said.
Vernon also is a suspect in an assault of a 60-year-old homeless woman in Vallejo in December, Weaver said.
The woman was severely beaten and was in the intensive care unit of a hospital for weeks.
Vernon also is suspected of robbing and carjacking a 20-year-old Vallejo man in September, Weaver said.
The Solano County District Attorney's Office has filed a complaint against Vernon regarding the December assault of the homeless woman and also is reviewing a robbery in April that Vernon is suspected of committing in Vallejo, Weaver said.
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