Critics say Apache rapist still at large

Published: Nov. 30, 2008 at 12:30 PM
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WHITERIVER, Ariz., Nov. 30 (UPI) -- A serial rapist who posed as a police officer to prey on girls at the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona, may still be on the loose, critics say.

Even though Bureau of Indian Affairs agents received cash bonuses and commendations for solving the case more than a year ago, others claim the perpetrator has yet to be caught, The Arizona Republic reported Sunday.

Tribal officials say the sexual assaults by a police imposter ended after the arrests of several suspects, but evidence in the case was so problematic the U.S. Attorney's Office has refused to file charges against the suspects in federal court, the newspaper said.

Sexual violence is common on U.S. Indian reservations, with American Indian women twice as likely to be raped as other females, researchers say. Over the course of a lifetime, one-third of American Indian women are sexually assaulted, partly due to alcohol abuse, isolation and other social factors, the Bureau of Justice Studies reports.