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Homeless Man Accused In 2 Violent Garage Rapes

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May 1, 2009 9:10 pm US/Eastern

Homeless Man Accused In 2 Violent Garage Rapes

BOSTON (WBZ) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 2: Jose Rivera in court Friday was still wearing a hospital gown from when he was treated at the same facility his alleged victim went to.
WBZ
Click to enlarge 2 of 2: Police say the women were raped on the fifth floor and the second floor of the Radisson's parking garage on Stuart Street.
WBZ

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A homeless man accused of raping two women at the Radisson Hotel's parking garage on Stuart Street was ordered held on $1 million bail during his arraignment on Friday.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office calls the two attacks very violent and brutal. The suspect, 23-year-old Jose Rivera, who stays at the Pine Street Inn, is accused of violently raping two women in the hotel's parking lot on two separate occasions.

APRIL 19 ASSAULT

The first incident happened on April 19 at 6:30 a.m., according to the D.A.'s office. The suspect allegedly approached an employee of the hotel on the fifth floor of the parking garage.

Officials say Rivera asked the woman for directions out of the hotel. She gave him directions but noticed he continued to follow her and quickly became alarmed. When she started running, according to the D.A.'s office, Rivera hit the woman in the face, picked her up from behind and threatened to throw her off the balcony if she didn't stop screaming.

Rivera allegedly asked the woman, "Do you have $100 or do you want to die?" Police say he forcibly removed her pants and underwear, covered her mouth and raped her. When she screamed, he threatened to harm her further, police say.

A passerby who saw what was happening rushed over to help the woman, and the 23-year-old ran away. He was able to get into an elevator before being caught.

MAY 1 ASSAULT

The second incident allegedly happened at 2:55 a.m. Friday on the second floor of the same garage. According to the D.A.'s office, Rivera grabbed the woman from behind, dragged her into a stairwell, hit her face and pulled out clumps of her hair. She told police her attacker kept talking about "what he was going to do to her."

Officials say he threw her to the ground, took off her pants and underwear and raped her.

The victim was somehow able to escape and ran out to a police officer who was on a detail outside of the parking garage.

She was taken to New England Medical Center for evaluation.

HOW POLICE CAUGHT THE SUSPECT

According to officials, an officer heading to NEMC to talk to the victim noticed a patient about to be discharged that matched the suspect's description. The officer approached Rivera, realized it was the man police wanted and quickly took him into custody.

The woman from the April assault positively identified Rivera as the man who allegedly raped her.

Rivera was appointed an attorney and is scheduled to be back in court on June 1.

In addition, police discovered Rivera was in violation of probation from a previous non-sexual assault conviction. Because of that, police are holding him without bail for 60 days. After that, his bail will be at $1 million -- $500,000 for each rape case.