WASHINGTON — A man accused of walking away from a halfway house and going on a crime spree targeting women is now under arrest.
Melvin Latney, 25, of Southeast D.C. is charged with robbing five women in the city, and trying to sexually abuse two of them.
“The troubling part of this is that he began his spree on the same day he walked away, the same day he became an escapee,” D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said at a press conference outside police headquarters announcing the arrest.
The attacks began Nov. 24, 2015, and the last known attack happened on New Year’s Eve.
Two took place in Northeast, another two happened in Southeast, and one happened in Northwest.
“In four of the five cases that he is being charged with, we had some sort of video that we were able to retrieve to help us identify and track down the suspect,” Lanier said.
She says the community was a big help too.
“We did get a lot of tips. We did get information in, and that helped to identify the person,” she said.
