DNA match leads to arrest of rape suspect

0
77

Police-badgeNAUGATUCK — A hit from a national DNA database led police to arrest a Waterbury man May 31, seven years after a gang rape he is accused of participating in.

A 40-year-old borough woman reported on March 31, 2006, that she was raped by six Hispanic males near the footbridge in Linden Park after leaving Sullivan’s Cafe, said Lt. Bryan Cammarata of the Naugatuck Police Department. The men passed around a knife to threaten her and held her down, Cammarata said.

The woman reported the incident quickly and was hospitalized for a rape kit, Cammarata said. Multiple DNA samples were taken, and last month police were advised of the first hit, matching Hector Gonzalez, 41, of 71 Elizabeth St.

Gonzalez was charged with sexual assault in the first degree. He was held on a $250,000 bond and scheduled to appear June 3 in Waterbury Superior Court.