CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 28 (UPI) -- Police in North Carolina say DNA evidence has led to the arrest of a 62-year-old man for rape cases dating back to 1979. <\/p>\n
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said Jerry Lee Brooks was arrested Tuesday in Surfside Beach, S.C., south of Myrtle Beach, The Charlotte Observer reported. <\/p>\n
The department's Sexual Assault Cold Case Unit began in December investigating a series of rapes that happened in Charlotte in 1979, which investigators at the time called the \"ski mask rapist cases.\" <\/p>\n
Police found DNA evidence was available in several of the rape cases and analysis of the evidence showed they were linked. Police said a match from a DNA database led investigators to Brooks. <\/p>\n
A Mecklenburg County grand jury indicated Brooks on three counts of rape, two counts of a crime against nature, two counts of breaking and entering, two counts of attempted armed robbery and a count each of burglary and armed robbery. He was being held in a jail in Horry County, S.C., awaiting extradition to Charlotte. <\/p>\n
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police spokesman Robert Fey said investigators will review rape cases from the late 1970s and early 1980s to determine whether Brooks could be held responsible in other sexual assaults. <\/p>\n
Brooks had been convicted in the 1980s and 1990s on charges including breaking and entering, safe-cracking, common law robbery and embezzlement, North Carolina court records indicate. <\/p>\n
He was released from federal custody in February 2005 after serving time for armed bank robbery, the Observer said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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