Alleged Serial Rapist Arrested in Miami After 5-Year Fugitive Hunt

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A man accused of three rapes in New York City’s Central Park was arrested in Miami Beach after a five-year fugitive hunt, according to the New York Police Department (NYPD). Dereck Rivera-Deleon was apprehended while working at Burger King, the NYPD reported. He is accused of raping a woman in Central Park on October 24, 2026, and is set to be charged in connection with two other rapes in the park in 2021 and 2023.

The U.S. Marshals Service aided NYPD detectives from the Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force in making the arrest, police said. The Miami Beach Police Department (MBPD) confirmed the arrest in a Facebook post. The post highlighted that Rivera-Deleon, who had evaded capture for nearly five years, was tracked down by MBPD robbery detectives working with the U.S. Marshals Service and NYPD.

NYPD detectives assigned to the U.S. Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force with support from @USMarshalsHQ partners took Dereck Rivera-Deleon into custody today while he was working at Burger King in Miami for allegedly raping a woman in Central Park on October 24, 2026. Rivera-Deleon will also be charged with two rapes that occurred in Central Park in 2023 and 2021. The NYPD will stop at nothing to get dangerous criminals off our streets.

@NYPDnews on X

“Wrong city. Wrong detectives. MBPD robbery detectives, working alongside the U.S. Marshals Service and NYPD, tracked him down and took him into custody,” the MBPD post read. The post also featured surveillance footage of the suspect shared by NYPD Crime Stoppers.

Policing sources believe Rivera-Deleon did not know any of his victims. DNA evidence and victim testimony linked him to the alleged rapes. During the most recent incident, Rivera-Deleon allegedly dragged an unidentified 39-year-old woman into Central Park at knifepoint, NBC Miami reported.

MBPD Spokesperson Christopher Bess told NBC Miami that Rivera-Deleon was “extremely violent” and a fugitive from New York. He praised the swift actions and investigative skills of the detectives and federal partners, saying they “perhaps prevented another rape.”

The suspect had been working at Burger King for less than two weeks when arrested. He was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and will be extradited to New York. An extradition hearing is scheduled for Thursday, according to CNN.

While major crime, including shootings and murders, has decreased in New York in 2026, rape increased by 3.7 percent, the NYPD said.

Source: Daily Caller