Olympian Rapist Texted Victim
Former Olympic sprinter [Alvin Henry] was arraigned last night after he allegedly [confessed to the rape](http://www.amny.com/news/local/crime/ny-bc-ny--olympian-rapechar0702jul02,0,5881246.story?coll=am-topheadlines) of 5 women over 4 years in city parks, including a 15-year-old girl. Yesterday, [we told you](http://www.newyorkpress.com/blogx/display_blog.cfm?bid=36103707) that Henry is believed to be the Lovers Lane serial rapist, who attacked two women in Prospect Park and three women in Baisley Park and Roy Wilkins Park in Queens. Most of the women were attacked immediately after they left the company of men.
It is now believed that Henry, who competed for Trinidad and Tobago in the 2000 Sydney Olympic games, was caught after he sent a [text message to one of his victims], the 15-year-old girl he attacked in Prospect Park. Here is the somewhat vague statement from Police Commissioner [Ray Kelly](http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=71325) on the arrest: It did have something to do with contact that this individual had with a victim, he said. After he victimized this young woman he did contact her, there was an exchange of phone numbers.
Police were able to track the alleged rapists cell phone use to Coney Island and Prospect Park, but there was no name affiliated with the account. Then, after the most recent attack on a 34-year-old woman in Prospect Park on June 15, cops linked the multiple attacks using DNA evidence and realized that police sketches from 2003 and 2007 looked remarkably similar. With the help of the sketches, cops staking out the park managed to spot the man early Sunday morning; his identity was confirmed by the 15-year old victim, who was riding in another squad car, and then by other victims on a later police lineup.
Henrys cousin, Tiffany Ottley, 17, told the Daily News that Henry had come to New York from Trinidad and Tobago in search of employment with his grandmother, but that the family had sent the former runner home after discovering that he had made advances toward a 12-year-old cousin. Henry returned to the United States this spring, coinciding with the wave of new attacks.