BOSTON (WHDH) - Boston Police have used new DNA evidence to crack four old rape cases– the oldest of which dates back to 2003– and have placed a Quincy man into custody in connection with the rapes.
The 2003 rape involved a 13-year-old girl who was picked up in Chinatown, raped at knifepoint then stabbed in the shoulder, according to police. The second incident, about a week later, involved a 14-year-old girl who said she was picked up outside the Liberty Hotel in Beacon Hill, raped with a knife to her throat and stabbed.
In 2005, police said a 23-year-old woman was picked up at the Park Plaza Hotel in Back Bay and was also raped at knifepoint and stabbed multiple times. She was the first victim to undergo a rape exam. In 2006, police investigated another rape in which a woman, 18, was picked up outside Pizzeria Regina in the North End, and she also requested a rape kit.
Information from the victims, including a description of the car the suspect was driving, led investigators to Ivan Cheung, 42, and DNA from the two rape kits matched his, making the case.
“In late June of this year, detectives followed Mr. Cheung to the South Bay Mall, saw him smoke and discard a cigarette, threw out that cigarette, had that cigarette processed,” said Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum.
“This case presents complicated factual, legal and forensic challenges, and we’re going to be prepared to aggressively meet all of those,” said defense attorney Peter Parker.
“If Mr. Cheung thought that the passage of years had somehow erased the possibility of him facing justice for these vicious crimes, he was very much mistaken,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden. “The detectives who worked this case deserve enormous credit for staying the course and bringing him in to face these charges.”
Cheung worked at State Street Bank, and was recently terminated following his arrest. He’s being held on $1 million cash bail.
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