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Conyers Man Arrested for 5 New York Rapes in '90s
Michael Benjamin faces 17 counts including sexual assault and burglary based on DNA evidence linking him to five victims during a 1990s New York crime spree.
- On Thursday, Michael Benjamin, 57, of Conyers, was arraigned in New York on a 17-count indictment after being arrested in Georgia on Sept. 22 and extradited.
- The cold-case breakthrough came after testing a cup used inside the Rockdale County Sheriff's Office last year, linking a Georgia man to five assaults in southeast Queens between July 1995 and February 8, 1997.
- Records show the four charged incidents involve five victims, with victim #3, aged 21, assaulted twice, and the others aged 42, 36, and 27, all robbed and raped.
- Benjamin faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted, but his lawyer Joseph Amsel says most charges are outside the statute of limitations and Benjamin claims innocence.
- Queens County District Attorney Melinda Katz said these cold cases nearly three decades old show law enforcement persistence and survivors' courage, while prosecutors note DNA testing resolves long-unsolved crimes.
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Associated Press News+6 Reposted by 6 other sources
DNA from discarded cup leads to Georgia man's arrest in 1990s sexual assaults in New York
Prosecutors say a Georgia man accused of sexually assaulting five women during a New York City crime spree in the early 1990s was linked to the cases by DNA authorities obtained from a discarded cup he had used inside a sheriff's office.
·United States
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources9
Leaning Left2Leaning Right3Center4Last UpdatedBias Distribution45% Center
Bias Distribution
- 45% of the sources are Center
45% Center
L 22%
C 45%
R 33%
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