MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — A Miami Beach detective identified a rape suspect who was already behind bars after he allegedly threatened to rape a woman and threatened to kill another woman while armed with a knife, records show.
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Ahraya Crespin was in jail in Miami-Dade County when a Miami Beach detective used the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, database to identify him as a suspect in a rape, according to police.
A woman identified Crespin, 36, as the man who had raped her and stolen her cell phone at about 1:30 a.m. on March 27 near Collins Avenue and 68 Street in the North Beach neighborhood, according to the police report.
“If I had a gun, I would shoot you,” Crespin, 36, told the victim on March 27, according to the police officer’s arrest report.
Nearly a month later, Crespin was armed with “a knife, screaming at people and striking storefront windows,” shortly after 4:35 p.m. on Aug. 25 at 6954 Collins Ave., according to a police officer’s arrest report.
“Yelled at her that he was going to rape her,” a police officer wrote about what a victim and a witness reported, according to the police arrest report.
Another Aug. 25 victim reported Crespin approached her while she was on her way to work and “cornered her against the wall as he held both arms on either side of her … preventing her from leaving,” and said, “I’ll kill you,” according to the police report.
Miami Beach police officers arrested Crespin shortly after 4:40 p.m. on Aug. 25 at 200 71 St., and Miami-Dade corrections booked Crespin shortly after 8:15 p.m. on Aug. 25 at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, according to arrest and inmate records.
DNA after the March victim’s sexual assault examination at The Roxcy Bolton Rape Treatment Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital made the CODIS ID possible on Aug. 26, according to a police officer’s arrest report.
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“A records check revealed the defendant has an extensive criminal history, including violent crimes … in close proximity to the area where the victim was attacked,” a police officer wrote, according to the report.
Crespin was re-arrested on Aug. 28 and was at the Miami-Dade County Pre-Trial Detention Center on Monday morning, according to the county’s inmate record.
Crespin, who is homeless, had been released on his own recognizance on May 12 after he was unable to pay a $3,000 bond on April 3 or a $2 bond on May 5 after police officers arrested him on April 2 in Miami Beach and prosecutors filed a case for trespassing and resisting arrest, records how.
Crespin, whose convictions include cocaine possession and grand theft of a vehicle in Miami Beach, faced nine new charges on Monday in the March and August cases, according to Miami-Dade court records.
In the March 27 case, Crespin faced three charges: sexual battery with no serious personal injury, strong-arm robbery, and battery after a prior conviction.
For the Aug. 25 case, Crespin faced six charges: Three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, assault, and resisting an officer.
Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Laura Maria Gonzalez-Marques was set to preside over the two cases.
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Local 10 News Assignment Editor Mercedes Cevallos contributed to this report.
Arrest report narrative on Aug. 25
Arrest report narrative on March 27
(Warning: This police report could be triggering for sexual assault survivors).
Crespin’s case record in Miami-Dade
