HOUSTON (AP) An analysis of Houston police sexual assault kits, which at one time went years without being tested, has resulted in DNA evidence that implicated a prison inmate in multiple assaults dating to 1992, police officials said. <\/p>\n
Texas prison system records show 43-year-old Herman Ray Whitfield on Wednesday was in the Byrd Unit in Huntsville, serving time for kidnapping. <\/p>\n
Police announced Tuesday that Whitfield has been charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child and three counts of aggravated sexual assault. The outcome came as part of DNA evidence testing on an extensive backlog of police sexual assault kits. <\/p>\n
The attacks happened from 1992 to 1994, and again from 2006 to 2009, in bushes, on trails and at vacant properties, authorities said, adding that they believe others were attacked. <\/p>\n
Whitfield was convicted of kidnapping in 1995, paroled in 2006 and returned to prison in 2009 for a parole violation. Online prison records don't list an attorney for him. <\/p>\n
\"He was very violent in his assaults,\" Sgt. John Colburn said of the 6-foot-3 Whitfield. \"He choked his victims and would display a weapon or let them know he had one.\" <\/p>\n
The announcement comes a year after two independent labs began processing about 10,000 cases including 6,600 untested kits that were stored in the Houston police department's property room, according to the Houston Chronicle (http:\/\/bit.ly\/ODH9Zy<\/a> ). The oldest of the untested kits dates to 1987. <\/p>\n City leaders last year approved spending $4.4 million to send evidence for testing at two independent labs. <\/p>\n The testing was necessary not only to eliminate the backlog, but also to keep up with a growing number of newer cases developed by investigators that required DNA testing. <\/p>\n Houston police closed their crime lab in 2002. An independent audit criticized the lab, citing unqualified personnel, lax protocols and inadequate facilities that included a leaky roof that allowed rainwater to contaminate evidence, according to the Chronicle. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The rest is here: HOUSTON (AP) An analysis of Houston police sexual assault kits, which at one time went years without being tested, has resulted in DNA evidence that implicated a prison inmate in multiple assaults dating to 1992, police officials said. Texas prison system records show 43-year-old Herman Ray Whitfield on Wednesday was in the Byrd Unit in Huntsville, serving time for kidnapping. Continue reading
\nDNA matches Texas inmate in Houston cold cases<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"