15 Years After Boy Kidnapped, Sexually Assaulted, a Suspect

He was convicted in an unrelated case and police matched DNA
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 17, 2017 3:58 PM CST
15 Years After Boy Kidnapped, Sexually Assaulted, a Suspect
Mirek Voyt in 1997 (left) and 2012.   (LAPD)

On a morning in June 2001, two teenage boys were walking to school in Northridge, Calif., when they were accosted by a man with a gun. One boy fled, but the man blindfolded and abducted the other, who was 14, and sexually assaulted him. Fifteen years later, police finally got a break in the case. Late last year, 54-year-old Mirek Voyt was convicted of stealing money from his place of employment, a grocery store chain. Since that's a felony, his DNA was taken and entered into a database—and authorities found that it matched DNA evidence from the years-ago attack. Voyt was arrested Tuesday and charged with the assault, the Los Angeles Times reports.

He pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of kidnapping to commit rape and forcible oral copulation. Police believe Voyt took the victim to his home to assault him; he ultimately released the boy, KTLA reports. Authorities now fear Voyt may have committed other attacks in the intervening years, and are asking anyone with information to get in touch with police. He's moved around the Los Angeles area during that time, NBC LA reports, and worked in a management position at a "large" grocery store chain police are not naming specifically. Says an LAPD captain, "One would find it hard to believe that this was his only" sexual assault. (More sexual assault stories.)

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