Prince George’s County police arrested a Laurel man yesterday in connection with the rape of a female student last month.
Derik Villeda-Morales, 23, was arrested early yesterday morning outside his residence in Laurel and charged with second-degree rape, second-degree sexual offense and second-degree assault, police said in a news conference held in Ritchie Coliseum earlier yesterday afternoon.
Police said he has not been previously arrested and has no known affiliation to the university or the city of College Park. Bail has not been set. According to police, he is a Guatemalan immigrant who has lived in the United States since age 9.
They are also unsure why Villeda-Morales was in the area and have no evidence to link him to any other sexual assaults in College Park. Police do not believe the victim knew the suspect.
The arrest was a direct result of a traffic stop made by a university police officer, according to Prince George’s County Police. At around 1:40 a.m. last Saturday, Officer Joe Lilly observed a vehicle matching the description of that of the suspect’s. He said he made eye contact with Villeda-Morales at the intersection of Yale Avenue and Knox Road, one block away from where the victim in the rape was picked up by her attacker.
“He looked at me; I looked at him,” Lilly said. “He looked somewhat nervous.”
Lilly then decided to follow the vehicle, because it matched the description and had a white, Hispanic driver. Villeda-Morales subsequently failed to yield at a stop sign on the corner of Hopkins Avenue and College Avenue, and Lilly pulled him over. He conducted a field interview and issued a citation for the traffic offense. Lilly said the driver seemed extremely nervous throughout.
“When we stopped the car, I had a bit of a hunch, but I’m no detective,” said Lilly, a two-year veteran, smiling.
Unable to legally pursue anything further, Lilly let Villeda-Morales go and then immediately contacted the Prince George’s County detectives on call, giving them all the information on the driver and the stop. Lilly, who also volunteers at the Burtonsville Fire Department, was confident his stop had made a difference.
“At that point, I think he was pretty scared of us,” Lilly said. “He knew we were looking for him.”
Eventually, police decided to issue a warrant for Villeda-Morales’ arrest based on the description of the vehicle and driver. Police also obtained a warrant for his DNA and search warrants for his car and residence.
A friend of the 21-year-old victim was talking to the driver of an unknown car near the corner of Yale Avenue and College Avenue when the victim approached and accepted a ride home from the suspect. The suspect took her to an unknown location and raped her. He then dropped her off on Route 50 in Anne Arundel County, almost 10 miles east of College Park. An off-duty county police officer picked her up from the road afterward. Police are still investigating to pin down a more accurate and detailed timeline.
“The victim is doing as well as we can expect,” said Maj. Andy Ellis, spokesman for Prince George’s County Police. He said she is aware of the arrest.
Police say it’s not uncommon for suspects to return to the scene of the crime.
“That’s one of the precise reasons we hand out this flyer sometimes, because a lot of times, people are very comfortable with the areas where they commit the crimes,” commander of the criminal investigations division of the Prince George’s County Police, Maj. Daniel Dusseau, said. He said in distributing flyers to citizens, businesses and police in the area, they have a greater chance of catching the suspect should he return, citing, among criminals, a common sense of “arrogance” and belief that they can not be caught.
Police credit the partnership between county and University Police as the impetus for the arrest.
“If it weren’t for [Lilly’s] work, this case would still be an active investigation,” said Dusseau.
Assistant District 1 Commander Cpt. Daniel Lipsey echoed Dusseau’s sentiments and predicted a harmonious future.
“We’ve had a great relationship before this – we will continue to have this relationship,” Lipsey said.
Police also praised Steven Lane, a supervisor for the university’s security operations center. Lane, working for 22 hours straight on his day off, was able to find the image of the suspect’s car after combing through countless hours of surveillance footage.
Lane explained it was extremely difficult to find the suspect’s vehicle due to the vague descriptions of the vehicle and the suspect, as well as the large time frame they had to work with. Lane was essentially forced to go through each vehicle one-by-one and use a tedious process of elimination based on the limited description available. Eventually, he had a “hallelujah moment” toward the end of his shift and was able to positively identify the suspect’s car.
The image Lane found, police said, is the biggest piece of evidence in the case so far.
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