A man accused of sexually assaulting four women in and around the Dupont Circle was arrested late last week, said the Metropolitan Police Department. The man, 30-year-old Oscar Mauricio Carnejo-Pena, stands accused of groping the women in early August.
According to the Post, Carnejo-Pena, who was known to play chess in Dupont Circle, was under investigation for two weeks in relation to the assaults. He told police that he was involved in at least eight other such assaults in recent months.
Though he has been charged with four assaults, one that he has not yet been charged with is the one that brought most attention to the spate of incidents in the neighborhood. In July, Carnejo-Pena allegedly reached under the skirt of D.C. photographer Liz Gorman as she walked in Dupont Circle; he fled on a bike before she could say anything.
Gorman blogged about the incident, provoking widespread outrage at the types of assault that women in D.C. can face. On Saturday, Gorman tweeted that she was still waiting to hear back from MPD as to why Carnejo-Pena had not been charged in her assault.
Carnejo-Pena faces four counts of misdemeanor sexual assault, and has been released to a halfway house until an August 31 preliminary hearing.
Martin Austermuhle