A 46-year-old New Jersey man is jail after being accused of a rape that took place nearly a dozen years ago, Passaic County Sheriff's officials said earlier this week.
The man stands accused of aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping and criminal restraint. He's being held on $1 million bail.
Law enforcement officials say that DNA evidence led to the arrest of the Paterson man for the sexual assault that was alleged in Clifton almost 12 years ago.
The suspect was recently arrested on a charge that required him to submit a DNA sample, a Clifton detective told a media outlet. It wasn't disclosed what allegations the recent charge against the suspect involves.
Police say the DNA sample recently taken was matched to DNA evidence taken from the sexual assault alleged in August of 2000.
The sexual assault evidence was in the state police's Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS.
Clifton law enforcement officials were apparently informed of the DNA match in February. They said they then contacted the woman in the case; she'd since moved to another state.
They then began searching for the suspect; a search that took so much time that detectives began to believe it was increasingly unlikely that an arrest in the case would ever be made.
Back in 2000, a woman, 21, said she'd gotten off of a bus in Clifton
and was walking home when a man grabbed her from behind, forced her to
go with him to a secluded area and then he sexually assaulted her.
No matter what the allegations might be, a suspect retains all their rights
under our Constitution; rights that must be protected by an effective
criminal defense attorney.
Source: NorthJersey.com, "DNA evidence leads to arrest in 12-year-old Clifton rape," May 30, 2012