Fmr. Framingham Man Charged In Decade-Old MetroWest Rape Cases
FRAMINGHAM (CBS) - A man accused of being the so-called MetroWest serial rapist, was ordered held without bail on Thursday for alleged crimes that date back a decade.
Marcelo Mota, 34, formerly of Framingham is accused in a string of sexual assaults that terrorized women in the area, and even led to a billboard being placed along Route 9 to warn women of the attacks.
Mota is accused of breaking into an apartment at the Windsor Ridge Apartments in Westborough on August 6, 2003, where he allegedly raped a woman at gunpoint.
A week later, police say he broke into an apartment at the Village of Walker Meadow in Westborough and raped a woman while threatening her with a knife and gun.
Authorities say he moved on to Hopkinton and tried to rape a woman at Indian Brook Townhomes, but she was able to fight back.
Authorities finally caught up with Mota in New Jersey seven years ago where he was charged and tried for another sexual assault. Prosecutors now say they have a DNA match that links him to the Massachusetts crimes.
"It's DNA in both cases," said prosecutor Joseph Quinlan. "In one of the cases there was a partial print on a knife that was used in the attack on a woman."
Mota was recently cleared of the New Jersey charges, but Massachusetts authorities were there to nab the accused serial rapist and bring him back for the alleged MetroWest assaults before he could be released.
In the time since his New Jersey arrest, police say he confessed to the Massachusetts crimes. He is now being held without bail and is due back in court July 8.
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