A California man accused of raping two women more than 15 years ago was arrested after DNA evidence from an alleged assault in December linked him to at least one of the earlier crimes, a newspaper reported.
Rodolfo Franco Fernandez appeared in court Monday and pleaded not guilty to charges including rape, forcible oral copulation and assault, the Ventura County Star said.
The 40-year-old was held without bail and ordered back to court on June 22.
Franco Fernandez was arrested in Oxnard on Sunday.
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DNA evidence collected after a sleeping woman was assaulted at a home in Oxnard on December 20 linked him to an alleged rape of a woman in a car on February 16, 2003, police said.
He is also suspected of raping a woman in a car in Ventura that same year, the newspaper said. It wasn't immediately known whether DNA evidence had been collected in that assault.
Oxnard detectives believe there could be additional victims and are asking anyone with information to call police.
