followup: Arizona Serial Rapist
There was a longer article about how he raped an escort, but since the article requires a small survey to access, I'm reposting it here as a blog post.
Police: Rape suspect implicated in 7 other attacks over 20 years
Lindsey Collom
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 30, 2008 12:00 AM
A rape suspect arrested in November may have assaulted at least seven other women over the past 20 years - attacks that he captured on camera and detailed in a journal, authorities said.
Phoenix police say videotapes, photos and a ledger seized from Gary Geza Beres' east Phoenix home implicate him in eight sexual assaults. Five of the women have been identified; police are still looking for the other three.
Detectives found the items while investigating a November incident in which Beres is suspected of posing as a cop during a rendezvous with a female escort he met through a newspaper ad. The woman told police Beres blindfolded her, drove her to his house and assaulted her.
Beres, 48, has been indicted on charges of kidnapping, sexual assault and impersonating a police officer in connection with the attack. Additional charges are likely.
Police say Beres was implicated in a similar crime in 1988, but the Maricopa County Attorney's Office declined to prosecute. Phoenix police Sgt. Joel Tranter said lack of physical evidence and questions over the victim's credibility were at issue. [emphasis mine]
A spokesman for the County Attorney's Office could not verify Tuesday that the case was ever submitted to the office, which at the time was overseen by County Attorney Tom Collins.
William Miller, lead detective in the most recent case, said Beres videotaped himself sexually assaulting various women of all ages and races over nearly two decades.
Miller said Beres met some of the possible victims by answering ads in publications or the Web site Craigslist.org; others responded to his ads seeking models who wanted to "break into the business." He even purchased a plane ticket for one victim, Miller said.
"They're all pretty good scams," Miller said. "He makes them believe what he's telling them."
In the November case, detectives said they spent two hours convincing the victim that her attacker was not a cop. It was not clear how many other potential victims may have been convinced of Beres' law-enforcement connection and were "too fearful and embarrassed" to speak up, Tranter said. [emphasis mine]
Beres was most recently employed as a security guard for a department store. He also owned a now-bankrupt cleaning business, and police are concerned he may have assaulted female employees and silenced them by threatening to notify immigration authorities.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Phoenix police at 602-262-6141. Tipsters can also remain anonymous by calling Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS.
