Arrest Made In 2001 Sex Assault Case
Colorado Springs police on Monday arrested a man suspected in committing a child sexual assault dating back to August 2001.
Gerardo Garcia Cruz, 37, is in jail with bond set at $50,000. He’s scheduled to appear in court Tuesday afternoon to face charges of sexual assault on a child and second-degree kidnapping.
Police said they arrested Cruz at the El Paso County Courthouse on Monday morning while he was attending a hearing on a domestic violence charge from last summer. The arrest came after the Colorado Bureau of Investigation confirmed him as the suspect through a laboratory report.
The victim, now 24, still lives in town and identified the suspect, police said.
“It’s an extremely traumatic experience,” said police Lt. Patricia Freese. “To know that someone who has done something like this is now behind bars and is not able to hurt or offend again, then that brings a certain sense of peace to them.”
In September 2011, the CBI matched Cruz’s DNA profile to DNA taken from the victim in 2001. Police had a profile from Cruz after his arrest for domestic violence because of a state law enacted in 2010 requiring arrested felons to provide DNA samples.
Police said the case began on August 20, 2001, when officers were dispatched to a home in southeast Colorado Springs to investigate the kidnapping and sexual assault of a 14-year-old female.
A Hispanic male had offered her a ride as she walked in the area of Delta Drive and South Chelton Road., police said, and he then took her to an isolated area near Hancock Expressway and South Academy Boulevard where he threatened her with a knife before sexually assaulting her.
Police said the victim eventually escaped from the suspect when another car drove into the area, and that the victim ran to the second vehicle and was driven out of the area to safety. She was transported to Memorial Hospital Central where sexual assault evidence was collected, police said.
Police said the preliminary investigation did not produce any leads to identify the suspect.
