A man the Fairfax County police chief called “public enemy No. 1” and a “true predator” is behind bars after being arrested for a string of sex assaults in Northern Virginia.
Twenty-year-old Hien The Dinh, of Stafford County, has been charged with one count of sexual battery and one count of abduction with intent to defile, Chief Kevin Davis said at a news conference Friday morning.
According to Davis, Dinh confessed to two sexual assaults that took place in Chantilly over the past couple of months. He is being held without bond.
The first assault Dinh has been charged with took place on May 18 in the 14500 block of Iberia Circle. Police say Dinh entered a woman’s home and attempted to sexually assault her. She got away and was able to call police. She was taken to a hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening.
Then, on July 3, just two blocks away from the scene of the first attack, police said Dinh approached a woman who was pushing a baby carriage outdoors in the 14500 block of Northeast Place around 11:30 a.m. Police said that he forcefully grabbed her in a private area before putting her in a chokehold. The woman’s mother heard her scream for help and ran toward the scene, at which point the suspect fled.
Davis said Dinh’s acts were “continuing to get more and more brazen, returning to the same community, in broad daylight, approaching victims in broad daylight with other pedestrians nearby.”
Fairfax County police Lt. Erin Weeks said at the news conference that, while reviewing surveillance footage, detectives noticed a suspicious car appearing to follow a victim around a shopping center.
According to Weeks, detectives located the vehicle in an industrial park off Stonecroft Boulevard in Chantilly. Dinh was arrested while walking to the car.
Davis added that a Ring doorbell video and other surveillance footage allowed the department to develop a sketch of the suspect, which was “extremely beneficial” to identifying him.
Fairfax County police said they believe the man suspected in both sexual assaults is linked to another on May 10 at the Northern Virginia Community College Campus in Loudoun County.
Davis said the Northern Virginia Community College Police Department is still investigating that case.
Court records showed Dinh received a suspended 12-month sentence, serving only a month, for incidents in 2021, during which two teenagers were touched inappropriately in the parking lot of a high school near Richmond, Virginia. Dinh was charged with two counts of misdemeanor sexual battery and trespassing.
Dinh’s court record also indicated an arrest for assault and battery, as well as several traffic violations.
Davis added that investigations of both the May 18 and July 3 incidents are still ongoing, and police anticipate more charges against Dinh.
