A man who police believe is a notorious sexual predator who broke into the homes of numerous 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 home-invasion sexual assaults from 2008 to 2012 in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington said that his DNA also connected him to a sixth attack in Maryland in 2009.
His arrest marks a huge break for cold case investigators trying to identify the man known as the “Georgetown Cuddler,” a nickname that spread among students even as it was widely criticized for seeming to downplay the seriousness of the attacks.
Authorities shared two pictures of Ernesto Mercado, from 2010 (left) and 2019, asking members of the public to contact the police if they have any information related to their investigation.
A detective with the Metropolitan Police Department condemned the “cuddler” term in a news conference Wednesday and said it caused additional harm to the victims.