Crime & Safety

Man Facing Charges in Attacks of Ross Women Told the Victims He Needed Money

One of the attacks occurred in the room of the woman's 4-month-old baby while her fiance was tied up in an adjacent room, according to the criminal complaint filed by Ross Township Police.

The man police say told both women he needed money and forced them to hand over cash, jewelry and credit cards before assaulting and leaving them bound with duct tape, according to a criminal complaint.

One of the attacks occurred in the room of the woman's 4-month-old baby while her fiance was tied up in an adjacent room, according to the complaint filed by to obtain an arrest warrant Wednesday.

Police arrested Arthur Lamont Henderson, 38, of the North Side, early Thursday morning in the Hill District in connection with the attacks. He is being held while he awaits the scheduling of his preliminary hearing before

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Henderson is charged in two attacks on local women—one reported Saturday, Jan. 7 at the Woodhawk Club Apartments complex on Johanna Drive and the other Monday, Jan. 9 at the Cascades Apartment complex. In both cases, the women were attacked in the early-morning hours after returning from walking their dogs. 

In the Jan. 7 incident, the woman returned from walking her own dog and her neighbor's dog about 9:30 a.m. She told police she was turning to close and lock her apartment door when a man she did not know shoved her inside while he held a handgun, according to the complaint.

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The man demanded money and was given $70 in cash and credit cards before he sexually assaulted the woman and left her with her wrists and ankles duct-taped together, according to the complaint. 

In the Jan. 9 incident, the woman told police she returned from walking her dog about 6 a.m. and found her fiance tied up in the bedroom and an unknown man with a gun in her apartment. The man told her to help finish binding the fiance with clear box tape, but when she struggled with the tape, the man forced her to use  duct tape to finish the job, according to the complaint.

The man demanded money, and the woman said she gave him about $500 in cash and $1,300 in jewelry, including her engagement ring. The man then took the woman into her baby's room, where he assaulted her and bound her feet and mouth with duct tape, according to the complaint. 

Police identified Henderson as the suspect in the attacks after receiving a tip from a witness who saw a man running from the area of the victim's apartment in the Woodhawk Club Apartments and then leave in a vehicle. Police on patrol at the Cascades Apartment complex later noticed the vehicle and a man matching the victims' descriptions leaving that complex the afternoon after the second assault. 

Although he has been a resident of the Manchester neighborhood of the North Side, Henderson frequently stayed at the apartment of his girlfriend in the Cascades Apartment Complex at 100 East West Drive, police said.

A surveillance camera at a bank ATM also captured Henderson on video when he withdrew money from one of the victim's accounts, police said. Investigators obtained a search warrant to take a DNA sample from Henderson and a warrant to arrest him later that day after obtaining the test results, according to the complaint

Henderson is being charged with two counts each of rape, aggravated indecent assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, burglary, firearms violations, indecent assault, theft and possession of instruments of crime. He has also been charged with three counts of robbery, intimidation of victims, false imprisonment, making terroristic threats, unlawful restraint; and one count each of reckless endangerment and access device fraud.

Henderson also faces federal charges that have not been detailed by police. Those charges involved less-serious crimes than those he is accused of in Ross Township, according to Ross Det. Brian Kohlhepp. They are under seal by the courts. 

The DNA analysis identifies only the two Ross Township women as victims. 

It is not immediately clear from the court document or police statements why the two women in particular were targeted. Neither has any apparent connection to their attacker, police said.

Police have said the assualts appeared to be random. 

is being held tonight by the police department at 7 p.m. at the . 


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