Posted on Tue, May. 29, 2007

Suspect denies attacking women

The Associated Press

An 18-year-old illegal immigrant said he did not attack females on the city's north side, though police said his fingerprints were found where two of the crimes occurred.

Edgar San Miguel, a Mexican, was arrested May 20 and charged with burglary with intent to commit sexual assault. He was being held in the Harris County Jail on $100,000 bail.

San Miguel told the Houston Chronicle on Saturday that he's not the predator who Houston police say has entered at least 10 homes. In many cases, police said, the attacker climbed into bed with girls or women and fondled them.

Police lifted San Miguel's fingerprints from windows at the home where the first attack occurred, on Jan. 13, and from the home where another attack occurred, on May 18, said investigator Pedro Moreno of the homicide division's sex crimes unit.

Three attacks have happened since San Miguel's arrest but appear unrelated to the other incidents, Moreno said. He said San Miguel has refused to answer questions about other cases.

Police have collected DNA samples and are investigating whether they are connected or might be the work of copycats, Moreno said.

San Miguel told the Chronicle that he broke into the first home but said he did not try to assault the 24-year-old woman who lives there.

She has identified San Miguel as her attacker.

She said she was awakened that night by a friend who needed a ride home. When she returned about 2:30 a.m., a man jumped out from behind her kitchen table, she said.

She said he appeared drunk, swore at her in Spanish and threw her to the floor and onto a table while trying to take off her clothes. After she fought him off, he ran away, she said.

She said she saw San Miguel on May 20 as he walked along a nearby street. She called police and identified him as the attacker, and he was arrested.


http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/118098.html

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