Residents on a quiet Arlington street were aghast Thursday to learn a neighbor has been accused of being the “Georgetown Cuddler” — a serial rapist who broke into homes and attacked several college-aged women in the District and Maryland over a decade ago.
One resident told The Washington Times she was “totally shocked” to hear that authorities have charged Ernesto Ramon Mercado with the sexual assaults of six victims between 2008 and 2012 in the Georgetown and College Park areas.
She said Mr. Mercado, 54, seemed completely normal, and had never done anything to raise suspicions.
The neighbor said her child played with Mr. Mercado’s daughter on occasion when the two were growing up, but the suspect wasn’t as social as his wife was. She mentioned that he has an adult son as well.
Another neighbor, a man, said “We’re still trying to wrap our head around it, that’s for sure.”
Most other residents politely turned away probing reporters, but one woman immediately got defensive of the family by telling media members to “Leave them alone!” and threatened to call the police.
SEE ALSO: ‘Georgetown Cuddler’ nabbed by D.C. police 12 years after last attack
No one answered the Mercado family’s door when The Times knocked.
Court documents said Mr. Mercado has lived on 1st Street South since 2011. His wife, minor daughter and other family members have lived at the residence.
He has close family in Honduras, the filing said, and investigators believe he may have visited the country in January and June of this year.
Mr. Mercado also volunteered with the Arlington Soccer Association from March 2019 to June 2024.
“We are deeply disturbed by the news regarding Ernesto Mercado,” the association told local ABC affiliate WJLA-TV. “During his time with us, we were not aware of any allegations or concerns regarding his conduct.”
The organization said it does background checks on all of its volunteers.
The suspect had no criminal record prior to the bevy of felony sexual abuse charges he now faces in the District, according to court documents.
Mr. Mercado has worked in cybersecurity for Booz Allen Hamilton since March 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile. He worked as a quality assurance engineer at domain registry company Verisign at the time of the attacks.
The Times reached out to both companies for comment.
Mr. Mercado was arrested this week after Metropolitan Police matched his DNA with the genetic profile of the suspect they created from the victims’ rape kits.
The rape kits proved crucial as advancements in forensic technology helped police bring charges in the investigation that stretched over a dozen years.
Detectives said better technology helped them tie all the rapes to an unknown man in 2016.
Once forensic genetic genealogy came around in 2020, investigators said they started deciphering who the unknown attacker could be.
Court documents revealed that Mr. Mercado became the lead suspect in recent weeks, but detectives’ efforts to acquire the alleged assailant’s DNA “surreptitiously” proved fruitless.
One method involved investigators placing a pole camera on his block to observe Mr. Mercado’s habits to determine if he might leave genetic material behind on any objects. But the plan fell short because the suspect “displayed minimal predictable patterns,” detectives said.
Investigators also secured a warrant to place a GPS tracker on Mr. Mercado’s car, and police suggested he worked as a rideshare driver in Clarendon and Georgetown since he regularly left his house late at night.
Detectives did manage to swab his car door handle, but there wasn’t enough DNA to run forensics.
Authorities said Wednesday that the genealogy mapping eventually pegged Mr. Mercado as the most likely suspect.
Mr. Mercado was arrested Tuesday after police secured a warrant for him to provide a DNA sample, which matched the suspect profile created by forensics.
“Thanks to DNA evidence from the rape kits of courageous survivors, improvements in DNA technology, and the tireless efforts of our law enforcement partners and our prosecutors, we were able to link these six rapes,” U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves, the federal prosecutor who handles most major crimes in the District, said Wednesday.
“Once we had a DNA profile of the suspect,” he continued, “the team used every forensic tool at its disposal, as well as old-fashioned detective work, to identify the person behind this DNA profile.”
Mr. Mercado is accused of raping women in Georgetown in June 2008; July 2009; February and August of 2010, and August 2012. The attack in College Park, just outside of the University of Maryland’s campus, took place in November 2009.
Each time, the attacker either raped or attempted to rape the victims until they were startled awake. In each case, the assailant fled after the victim woke.
Det. Alexander MacBean, who has worked the case since 2012, said the attacker was likely a “Peeping Tom” who stalked his victims — all of whom had been out drinking prior to the attacks.
Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said Mr. Mercado is also a suspect in dozens of other sexual assaults, burglaries and voyeurism cases that took place during the same time as the charged offenses.
Mr. Mercado is currently being kept behind bars until his next scheduled court date on Wednesday.
If convicted of all charges, he would spend the rest of his life in prison.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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