Starbucks Cup Leads to Rape Suspect's Arrest

A 35-year-old man in Washington state is behind bars on rape charges because of his reusable Starbucks cup, reports the Olympian. Police say Bryon Johnston abducted a woman from a bus stop and drove her to an abandoned motel, but she managed to escape the moving SUV in the parking lot. As she fled, she noticed that a few things fell out of the vehicle, including that Starbucks cup, and she pointed them out to police later. Using data stored in the cup's sticker, detectives were able to figure out when and where it was last used, and they got Johnston's license plate number off drive-thru video.

Police charged Johnston with kidnapping and attempted rape in that case, then discovered a similar crime months earlier in which a woman was abducted from a bus stop and raped at the same abandoned motel. Johnston has been charged with rape and kidnapping in that case, too, and police are now seeking out other possible victims, reports KING 5. Johnston is married with four children and works as a delivery driver. He has a previous conviction for soliciting a prostitute. (More sexual assault stories.)