FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, November 23, 2015
Serial Rapist Who Committed Four Rapes Within One Week, Including of a
15-Year-Old Girl, Sentenced to 100 Years to Life in Prison
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson announced today that a 26-year-old Brooklyn serial rapist has been sentenced to 100 years to life in prison for committing four rapes within a one-week period, including one of a 15-year-old girl.
District Attorney Thompson said, “This serial rapist, who committed four rapes within one week, including one of a 15-year-old girl, is a sadistic and violent sexual predator who is simply not fit to walk the streets ever again. That’s why he must spend the rest of his life behind bars.”
The District Attorney said that the defendant, Dexter Bell, 26, of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, was sentenced today to 100 years to life in prison by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Vincent Del Giudice. The defendant was convicted on November 9, 2015, of six counts of predatory sexual assault following a jury trial.
The District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, on April 4, 2013, at approximately 8 p.m., in the vicinity of Albany Avenue and Fenimore Street in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the defendant began following the first victim, a 25-year-old woman, after she exited a B12 bus. After trying to talk to her, he grabbed her hand, pulled her into a rear alley, put his hands around her neck, threatened to kill her and punched her in the face before raping her. The victim went home and later went to the hospital and a rape kit was collected and police were notified.
On April 8, 2013, at approximately 4 p.m., in the vicinity of Schenectady Avenue and Montgomery Street, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, according to trial testimony, the defendant approached the second victim, a 21-year-old woman, and said hello. The defendant started talking to her and she recognized him from the neighborhood but told him she was heading to work. The defendant led the victim into an alleyway in the vicinity of Crown Street and raped her. The victim went to the hospital and a rape kit was collected. She reported the incident to police after seeing media reports about the other attacks featuring the defendant’s photo.
On April 11, 2013, at approximately 8 a.m., in the vicinity of Farragut Road and 88th Street, in Canarsie, Brooklyn, according to trial testimony, the defendant approached the third victim, a 19-year-old woman, and began talking to her. He eventually led her to a stairwell and grabbed her by the hair when she tried to leave. He then raped her. The victim went home and told her friend and her aunt, and then went to the hospital where a rape kit was collected. Police were notified.
Finally, on April 11, 2013, at approximately 8 p.m., the fourth victim, a 15-year-old girl, was walking along the B12 bus route and saw the defendant, whom she had also seen there the day before. The two spoke and were walking together and went into a building on Midwood Street in Crown Heights. The defendant pulled the victim by the arm into an elevator and then into a staircase on the 6th floor and raped her. She later told an acquaintance and then went to the hospital where a rape kit was collected. Police were notified.
The defendant was arrested after an anonymous tipster provided the police with his name and address after seeing media reports about the rapes.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Doerfler, Deputy Chief of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau, and Senior Assistant District Attorney Olatokunbo Olaniyan, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Miss Gregory, Bureau Chief.
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