Authorities have arrested a man in Miami who is wanted in connection with three alleged rapes in New York’s Central Park, including one reported last month.
On Tuesday, authorities including the US Marshals took 30-year-old Dereck Rivera-Deleon into custody while he was working at a Burger King in Miami, New York City police said.
Rivera-Deleon, originally from the Bronx, was arrested for “allegedly raping a woman in Central Park on October 24, 2026”, the New York City police department (NYPD) said, adding that he will also be charged with two rapes that occurred in the park in 2023 and 2021.
Last month, police responded to a report from a 39-year-old woman who said a man threatened her with a knife before dragging her to a secluded area of Central Park and raping her. According to the NYPD, the incident happened at about 8.30pm near Fifth Avenue between 66th and 67th streets. The woman was taken to a hospital for treatment.
The NYPD later released images of the suspect showing a man dressed in black, wearing a hoodie and carrying what appeared to be a backpack.
Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s mayor, said in response to the incident: “What happened to this survivor is horrific. This is something that no one should have to endure. We know that every New Yorker should be able to walk anywhere in our city at any time of day and they should be safe, and anything less than that is not something that I will ever justify or accept.”
After Rivera-Deleon’s arrest in Miami, the NYPD said it will “stop at nothing to get dangerous criminals off our streets”.
Similarly, Ricky J Patel, US Marshal for the southern district of New York, said: “When violent offenders flee to evade justice, we will ensure there is no corner of the country where they can hide.”
Body camera footage showed authorities with the US Marshals and Miami Beach police department arresting Rivera-Deleon in broad daylight on Tuesday, with Rivera-Deleon at one point asking: “Are you guys confusing me with somebody else?”
The Burger King that Rivera-Deleon worked at is located right across from the Miami Beach police department, NBC Miami reports.
In a statement on Rivera-Deleon’s arrest, Miami Beach police spokesperson Christopher Bess said: “He was extremely violent. He was a fugitive out of New York. And luckily, due to the swift actions and great investigative skills of our detectives and our federal partners, we perhaps prevented another rape.”
Rivera-Deleon is being held without bond at the Turner Guilford Knight correctional center in south Florida as he awaits extradition to New York, local outlets report.
Burger King told NBC6 that Rivera-Deleon had been working at the restaurant for less than two weeks and is no longer employed by the company.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
