NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — A New Bedford man has been arrested in connection with the 2012 cold case rape of a 16-year-old girl, authorities announced Tuesday.
Dylan Ponte, 28, has been charged with two counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a person under the age of 14, according to Bristol District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn.
Ponte’s arrested is the second cold case that has been cracked under the DA office’s “Untested Rape Kit Initiative.” The first case connected to the initiative that resulted in criminal charges was announced in May.
On the evening of July 3, 2012, the victim was drinking alcohol with Ponte in the area of the Hayden-McFadden School and prosecutors say she blacked out during the early morning hours of July 4th.
The victim later woke up outside a friend’s home in pain with no underwear on and bruising all over her body, according to prosecutors. She was then taken to St. Luke’s Hospital, where she submitted to a rape kit.
That kit was one of more than 1,100 from Bristol County alone that was never fully tested by the state lab. After learning of the scope of the problem with the untested rape kits in the area, Quinn says office obtained a federal grant, and began inventorying and prioritizing the kits.
In May, a kit connected to this case was tested and the DNA profile matched that of Ponte, according the DA’s office.
“I am extremely pleased that our rape kit testing initiative has already resulted in two cold case rapes being solved from more than a decade ago. Both these cases demonstrate the importance of fully testing all sexual assault kits. If we did not obtain the grant to have all these kits fully tested, this case may never have been solved and the statute of limitations could have expired,” Quinn said in a statement. “Victims who have been sexually assaulted have gone through a very traumatic experience and have a right to have these kits fully tested, especially when an assailant cannot be identified.”
An official criminal complaint related to this case was filed Thursday in New Bedford District Court, and Ponte was tracked down by members of New Bedford Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitives Apprehension Section.
A judge found Ponte to be a danger and ordered him held on $1,000 bail. He is due back in court in August.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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