Arrest in ‘Georgetown Cuddler’ rape case

A man police say is a notorious sexual predator who broke into the homes of scores of young women near the Georgetown and University of Maryland campuses and raped them while they slept has been arrested.

Ernesto Mercado, 54, was charged in connection with five sexual assaults from 2008 to 2012 in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC. The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington said his DNA also linked him to a sixth attack in Maryland in 2009.

His arrest marks a huge breakthrough for cold case investigators trying to identify the man known as the “Georgetown Cuddler,” a nickname distributed among students even though it was widely criticized for appearing to downplay the seriousness of the attacks.

A Metropolitan Police Department detective condemned the term “hugger” in a press conference Wednesday and said it caused additional damage to victims.

“This man is a predator and he had no intention of ‘hugging’ his victims. Instead, his intention was to rape them. And only when they would wake up would the attack end and he would flee,” said MPD Detective Alexander Mac Bean.

JS reached out to the attorney listed in court documents as representing Mercado but did not receive an immediate response.

Investigators said DNA collected during the sexual assault forensic examinations of the victims was analyzed against the FBI’s national database of DNA profiles and found to belong to the same man. However, because he had no criminal history, they could not identify him.

Mercado was eventually identified using methods including genetic genealogy techniques, researchers said.

The crimes Mercado is accused of occurred in June 2008, July 2009, February and August 2010 and August 2012. All occurred late at night or just before dawn, Police Chief Pamela Smith said at the news conference.

The attacker gained access to the victims’ homes in several ways, including cutting a window screen, destroying a glass door panel and removing an air conditioning unit from the window.

Nothing was taken during the home burglaries, investigators wrote in court documents. In one case, a victim’s laptop and iPad were still on the bed where she had left them before going to sleep, police said.

After Mercado was identified as a suspect, investigators attempted to covertly obtain his DNA to determine if it matched DNA found on the victims. They placed a GPS tracker on his car and installed a pole camera on the block where he lived in Arlington, Virginia, to monitor his movements, but were unable to obtain a viable sample. Finally, on October 1, they obtained a search warrant to take a cheek swab and sent it to a laboratory for testing, along with a semen sample taken from one of the victims. The lab said they matched.

Mercado graduated from the University of Maryland College Park in 1995, authorities said, and lived in College Park from 2002 to 2007. His home was about a mile from where the third victim was attacked. He has lived in Arlington since 2012.

Mercado was charged with eight counts of sexual abuse. He could face up to life in prison if convicted of sex crimes linked to two different victims, U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves said Wednesday.

Investigators also believe Mercado may be connected to dozens of other crimes that have not been “forensically” linked, including other sexual assaults on homes, burglaries and voyeurism in Georgetown and College Park from at least 2006 to 2012.

Investigators said they continue to investigate similar unsolved crimes in those areas during this time and ask anyone who has been a victim of sexual assault or who may have information about this or other cases to contact police.

Mercado is being held without bond. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for October 10.