Police have arrested a homeless 24-year-old man in connection with several home invasions committed within three hours over a one-mile area in Brooklyn, as well as a sexual assault of a bicyclist during the terror spree, police said.
Edgar Marrero is charged with rape, attempted rape, burglary, robbery, forcible touching and sexual abuse, police said. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney.
The home invader first pushed his way into a Berry Street apartment in Williamsburg shortly before 8 p.m. Monday and punched the 27-year-old resident in the face, knocking her unconscious, according to law enforcement sources.
The woman told detectives she awoke to the suspect on top of her. He fled when a neighbor heard the woman's screams for help and went into the apartment to check on her. The suspect punched the neighbor and stole a cell phone and possibly a laptop on his way out. Sources believe he spent some time in the home, in part because they say he left two beers in the victim's refrigerator.
The woman was taken to the hospital with a broken eye socket, among other injuries, but is expected to be OK.
About two hours later, around 10 p.m., police believe the same suspect broke into a home on nearby Engert Street in Greenpoint. Sources say someone buzzed him into the building, and he forced his way into an apartment, encountering a 40-year-old woman whom he pushed onto a chair and tried to molest.
The woman screamed to her husband, who was in another room. The husband confronted the suspect, and the suspect assaulted him, then ran off, sources said. He stole a cell phone from the apartment. Sources say police have video of him from building surveillance cameras.
Then, just after 10 p.m., the suspect attacked a 44-year-old woman at Kingsland Avenue and Nassau Avenue as she was chaining her bicycle to a pole, police said. He allegedly approached her, hit her in the face with a bag and sexually assaulted her.
Shortly before 10:30 p.m., police say the same home invader allegedly struck a third home, this one on Nassau Avenue in Greenpoint. Sources say police believe the suspect found a front door that was apparently open, asked the 46-year-old woman inside a question and then pushed her onto a bed.
The woman's roommate was home and heard her scream; she grabbed a broom and started hitting the suspect with it. He eventually said, "All right, all right" and left the house, taking a laptop with him, law enforcement sources said.
Surveillance cameras then show the suspect heading into a nearby deli. The clerk told detectives he saw the suspect holding a laptop computer. He also said the suspect appeared to be high on drugs, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
