Police Make Second Arrest In Connection With Serial Rape Suspect
53-Year-Old Accused Of Offering Food, Money To Rapalo
POSTED: Thursday, January 5, 2006
UPDATED: 12:20 pm EST January 5,2006
MIAMI -- Miami-Dade police have arrested a second person who they say helped serial rape suspect Reynaldo Rapalo after he escaped from jail.
Antonio Discua was taken into custody overnight Thursday and booked at the Turner-Guilford Knight Correctional Center, the same facility that Rapalo used tied-up bed sheets to escape from Dec. 20.
Police say the 53-year-old disc jockey and traffic reporter is a longtime acquaintance of Rapalo who was in contact with the serial rape suspect in the days following his escape, and offered money and transportation to Rapalo while he was on the lam.
Discua is the second person to be arrested for allegedly harboring Rapalo.
Police arrested Alejandra Carvajal Tuesday night. She is charged with accessory after the fact in a capital sexual battery, a felony.
Police said that Carvajal provided Rapalo with money and food. Investigators said on the night that Rapalo escaped, he used a pay phone to call Carvajal's cell phone. She said that Rapalo told her that he had escaped, and they arranged to meet the following night at 9 p.m.
Carvajal said she took a bus from her Little Havana apartment to 69th Street and Bird Road, where Rapalo had made a hidden encampment in a wooded area. She told police that even though she was aware of the crimes Rapalo is accused of, she stayed with him all night.
Investigators said that Carvajal admitted that she provided Rapalo with a cell phone, but panicked and disposed of the phone because she thought the calls would be traced.
Discua's son, Andy Discua, told Local 10 that his father had provided religious counseling for Rapalo while he was in jail. He also said Rapalo called Discua while he was a fugitive, but that his father hung up because he could not hear him very well.
Discua is also charged with accessory after the fact in a capital sexual battery. He was slated to face a bond judge Thursday afternoon.
Police have said they are not ruling out more arrests.
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