Cops: Arlington Heights man is notorious Calif. 'A.M. Rapist'
An Arlington Heights man is being held on $1 million bond in San Diego, accused in a notorious series of sexual assaults and burglaries that occurred there in 2000 and 2001.
California authorities said the man could also possibly be linked to a 2003 Arlington Heights assault, but no charges have been filed.
Stephen Darien Richardson, 33, was arrested outside his Arlington Heights residence last week. He pleaded not guilty Monday in California to 23 felony charges, including six counts of forcible rape.
The culprit in the crimes with which Richardson has been charged became known as the "A.M. Rapist" because he would enter San Diego residences through unlocked doors or windows in the early morning or late at night before sexually assaulting his victims.
In 2005, local police tied DNA from one of the San Diego crimes to a 2003 rape in Arlington Heights, said San Diego police Lt. Rick O'Hanlon. At that time, though, neither department had a suspect's name to which the DNA could be linked.
San Diego police also recovered a partial print at one of the 2000 crime scenes, said O'Hanlon. With technological enhancements, a breakthrough came when authorities turned up Richardson's name and residence last month, he said.
Arlington Heights police were not available to comment on the local 2003 case Tuesday or say how long Richardson has lived in the village. Police said his local address is on Bloomington Avenue just south of Lake-Cook Road.
One report said Richardson lived in Arlington Heights the last five years, and local police said there had been no criminal charges against him in recent years. Richardson has not been charged in the 2003 Arlington Heights case.
Police said California authorities issued a warrant for Richardson's arrest in connection with a break-in and assault that occurred in 2000 in the Ocean Beach community, and then after his arrest last week linked him through DNA and other physical evidence to four other cases.
According to court documents cited in published reports, Richardson lived in the area at the time, just a few miles from where some of the crimes occurred.
Besides forcible rape, Richardson is charged with one count of forcible oral copulation, five burglaries, several counts of rape by a foreign object, and counts of sexual battery by restraint and assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury, said Paul Levikow, communications director for the San Diego County district attorney.
Richardson faces 225 years to life if convicted of all charges, Levikow said.
Crimes: Man did live in California at the time