(CLEVELAND) -- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty announced today that an alleged serial rapist accused of crimes that date back to 2001 has been indicted and arrested through the efforts of the Cuyahoga County Sexual Assault Kit Task Force.
Darrell Blackmon, 52, was arrested Thursday morning at a home on East 131st Street in Cleveland by a team that included Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) agents.
A Cuyahoga County Grand Jury indicted Blackmon on Wednesday. The indictment, which was unsealed after his arrest, charges him with five counts of rape and three counts of kidnapping involving three victims – two women and a man.
The rapes of the two women occurred in 2001 and 2008. The male victim was attacked in 2009. All of the victims were living either in shelters or boarding houses when they were raped.
Sexual assault kits taken from the two female victims and tested by the Ohio Attorney General’s BCI crime lab as part of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s Sexual Assault Kit Testing Initiative matched one unknown suspect.
The Cuyahoga County Sexual Assault Kit Task Force, a collaboration of the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, BCI, the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office, and the Cleveland Police Department, learned of the match in October of 2014.
Follow-up investigation tied Blackmon to the rape kits of the female victims and the rape of the male victim. Blackmon has prior convictions for attempted felonious assault, escape, and drug possession.
“This defendant preyed upon some of the most vulnerable people in our community,” said Assistant County Prosecutor Brett Kyker, who manages the task force. “BCI Agent Patti Stipek spent many hours building the case against him, finding him and enabling our team to bring him to justice today. Her excellent work is the latest example of how well this task force works and the importance of its mission.”
“Any day we can take a serial rapist off the streets is a good day,” said Attorney General DeWine. “From the lab testing to the investigative work, these cases are not easy to pursue, but well worth the investment. I’m very proud of the successful team effort, including our Agent Patti Stipek in this particular case, all in an effort to protect Ohio families.”
As of today, the Cuyahoga County Sexual Assault Kit Task Force has completed 830 investigations and has 1,440 in progress. A total of 259 defendants have been charged.
Photo of Darrell Blackmon
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Media Contacts:
Dan Tierney: 614-466-3840
Jill Del Greco: 614-466-3840