Rapist recently released from prison now accused in sexual attack of Charlotte woman
Police arrested a convicted rapist who is accused of sexually assaulting a Charlotte woman on Thursday after sneaking into her home through a window. The victim didn’t know her attacker, police said.
Medic took the woman to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries, according to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department news release on Friday.
Officers found the woman after a 911 caller reported a sexual assault at a home in the 4900 block of Daybreak Drive in north Charlotte about 9 a.m. Thursday, CMPD said.
Police arrested 28-year-old Robert McFadden without incident and charged him with two counts each of first-degree forcible rape and first-degree sex offense; four counts each of first-degree kidnapping and assault on a female; three counts of communicating threats and a count each of first-degree burglary, larceny after breaking and entering and interfering with emergency communication.
Police did not say what evidence led to McFadden’s arrest.
2010 case factored in arrest
An officer who responded with other police to the 911 call Thursday was familiar with a 2010 case that involved McFadden and “suggested him as a possible person of interest,” according to a follow-up CMPD news release later Friday.
“Due to limited information available from the initial investigation, there was no way to know if McFadden was in fact the suspect in this case,” Lt. Stephen Fischbach wrote in the news release, issued hours after a CMPD news conference about the arrest. “However, detectives immediately began researching McFadden and where he may have been.”
About an hour after the 911 call, members of CMPD’s sexual assault unit “made contact with” McFadden “and continued to work towards developing probable cause in charging him for this rape case, during which time McFadden remained in the detention of the CMPD,” according to police.
“As additional information was collected that led to probable cause, McFadden was arrested,” Fischbach said in the release without specifying the information police said they collected.
McFadden was then taken to the Mecklenburg County jail “for processing,” police said in the release.
No public alert from CMPD
Police said they didn’t issue an immediate “public service announcement” about the assault of the woman on Thursday because they had “an active lead and opportunity to quickly take the suspect into custody.”
“It is common that once information is made public surrounding a suspect or specific incident, suspects flee and destroy evidence,” Fischbach said. “The quick capture of a dangerous suspect in a stranger rape case was made possible by knowledge of the community by a veteran patrol officer, and the diligent work of Sexual Assault Unit Detectives.”
According to CMPD, officers also linked McFadden to an earlier burglary Thursday in an apartment building in the same block. The intruder “did not gain full entry into the apartment,” according to the news release.
McFadden was charged with an additional count of first-degree burglary, stemming from the earlier incident, police said.
CMPD urged anyone with information about the case to call Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.
McFadden was released from prison on April 25 after serving 12 years and three months for second-degree rape, state prison records show.
That assault occurred in the same block as the one this week, WBTV reported, citing police.
Crime stats
Rapes and other sexual assaults reported to CMPD fell 23% in the first quarter of the year compared with the same period in 2021, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
Overall crime increased just 1% compared with the same period a year ago, CMPD said at a news conference in April.
This story was originally published May 27, 2022 at 4:40 PM.