Lavatae Nacoma Evans, the Charlotte man who avoided prosecution in the alleged sexual assaults of three women in one day in December, has been arrested in the assault of a fourth woman.

This time, the 31-year-old is accused of raping a teenager he met up with at the uptown transportation center Wednesday.

Evans had been charged Dec. 15 with sexually assaulting two women at a Charlotte hotel and then another young woman at his home only a few hours later. But prosecutors dropped the charges last month, saying some of the victims gave contradictory statements and none allowed sexual assault tests to be performed.

Now Evans is back in Mecklenburg jail, charged with rape, kidnapping and two counts of first-degree sex offense, all felonies. His bond had been set at $235,000.

Evans was scheduled to appear Friday afternoon before a judge via a video monitor from jail, but he refused to leave his cell, said Julia Rush, spokeswoman for the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office.

The brief hearing continued without him. His bond hearing was scheduled for Feb. 29 and a probable cause hearing set for March 9.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police spokesman Rob Tufano said Evans and the victim in Wednesday's assault were acquaintances and once lived together. The victim told police she was at the uptown transit center waiting for a bus Wednesday when she met Evans there. Then the pair went off to smoke marijuana together.

Afterward, the teen said she wanted to go back to the transit center, but Evans showed a gun, preventing her from doing so, according to Tufano.

Evans took her to his home on Brewton Drive - the same home where he was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in December - and raped her, police said. During the course of events, the teen managed to call a family member, who called police, Tufano said.

Police responded to the Brewton Drive house, located in the Genesis Park neighborhood north of uptown, just before 4 p.m. Wednesday. That's where police said they took Evans into custody. Police said additional charges could be filed.

Earlier charges dropped

The department's handling of Evans resulted in controversy in December after police said they had interviewed him about the sexual assaults of two women at the hotel and released him just hours before he was implicated in another sexual assault at his home.

On Dec. 15, two women - ages 19 and 20 - reported being sexually assaulted at gunpoint at a hotel off West Sugar Creek Road.

Police said Evans voluntarily went to the Law Enforcement Center for questioning. Investigators said they didn't immediately press charges against him because of inconsistencies in statements given to police, and he was allowed to leave.

But about three and a half hours later - shortly after police signed warrants for Evans' arrest - an 18-year-old woman called police and said she'd been sexually assaulted.

Evans faced several charges in connection with the assaults of the three women, including first-degree sex offenses, kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon. Those charges were dropped in January.

In dismissal documents, prosecutors said the victims in the first alleged assault initially told responding officers that Evans had kidnapped them at gunpoint. Then, they said they'd met him at a gas station. Later, the women admitted they went with Evans to a hotel room to smoke marijuana, prosecutors said.

In the second incident, the woman first told police that she met Evans at the bus stop at Metropolitan Avenue and South Kings Street, but police said a review of bus surveillance video showed the pair at the uptown transit center, "riding the bus together chatting, and behaving like a couple."

After the second alleged attack, officers saw injuries on both Evans and the woman. Evans told police the injuries were the result of a fight that happened when she tried to steal his marijuana, according to court documents. Prosecutors said the victim didn't give examiners the chance to collect forensic evidence and left the hospital before being seen by doctors.

"Cases of this nature are extremely difficult to investigate and just as difficult to prosecute," police spokesman Tufano said in a statement after the charges were dropped.

Evans was released from jail Jan. 11. He was free until his arrest Wednesday.

The women who made the assault allegations could not be reached Thursday by the Observer.

Brandy Stephens, director of counseling at United Family Services, said she couldn't comment specifically about the case but said some rape victims might not have sexual assault kits taken because the procedure is an invasive one that can re-traumatize them. The tests generally need to be performed within 72 hours.

Others don't have the tests performed because they think it will force them to pursue charges against their attacker.

Stephens said investigators collect as much evidence as possible, take statements from the victim and try to corroborate that information with evidence that the victim and suspect were together at the time of the alleged assault.

"Sometimes it comes down to one person's word against the other. That can be tough," she said. "Just because somebody chooses to drop charges doesn't mean it didn't happen. And just because the DA's Office decides to drop charges doesn't mean it's not true."

A long rap sheet

Records show Evans, a convicted felon, has been arrested several times in Mecklenburg County.

More than a decade ago, he was charged with first-degree rape of a child, first-degree sex offense against a child, kidnapping and robbery. The rape and kidnapping charges were dismissed, records show, but he was convicted on the robbery charge. For the sex offense, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge: felony crime against nature.

A Facebook profile for Lavatae Evans says he lives in Charlotte and that he's "in a relationship." A message posted in May 2011 reads: "F--- da world get money trust no one! Put God first!"

No one answered the door Thursday at the small white house on Brewton Drive where two women alleged that assaults happened.

A "no trespassing" sign was attached to a fence bordering the house, and a sign above the mailbox warns people to stay off the grass. There's a "for sale" sign on the front porch of the house, which sits down the street from a church and a few blocks from an elementary school.

A ceramic cross was propped against a window pane inside the home.

A relative reached by the Observer on Thursday said he'd visited Evans in jail when he faced rape charges in December.

"He said he didn't do it," said the relative, who asked not to be named. "Now he's locked up for the same thing. ... Is the girl lying, or are the charges gonna stick? If he did it or not, his actions are unacceptable. Period. By being in that situation, that's unacceptable."

Staff researcher Maria David contributed.