US man accused of 13 rapes arrested

A man from New Mexico who is accused of raping at least 13 women in their homes was formally notified of these charges.

Photo: US man accused of 13 rapes arrested

Gustavo Haro, 32, was arrested Sunday in the sprawling city of Ciudad Juarez , across the Rio Grande from El Paso . According to Mexican authorities, Haro, a U.S. citizen from Sunland Park , New Mexico , targeted women in middle class neighborhoods since August 2006.

Haro often made his way into the homes of victims by knocking on their doors to ask for jumper cables for his stalled car, or simply by showing them a gun and forcing his way in, police in Juarez said.

"The investigation started about five months ago, and thanks to the help of American authorities we found and arrested this man, the same who was recognized by the majority of the victims," said Mario Ruiz Nava, a government spokesman in Mexico .

Haro remains jailed in Ciudad Juarez , but it was not immediately clear whether he had a lawyer there. In Sunland Park , the home at an address listed for a Gustavo Haro was fenced off and inaccessible Tuesday.

Mexican authorities gave El Paso police a partial license plate number and description of a vehicle seen near the women's homes, El Paso Officer Chris Mears said. El Paso detectives compiled a list of people whose vehicles and license plate numbers fit the description and sent it back, he said.

"That information included the person they have subsequently arrested," Mears said.

He said Mexican authorities enlisted help from El Paso police because they presumed the suspect was crossing back and forth over the border.

A man with the same name and date of birth as Haro has been arrested several times in El Paso, though not since the late 1990s, Mears said. Haro is not listed as a sex offender in any publicly available databases. Mears said he is not believed to have committed any similar crimes in the El Paso area, though police are reviewing open cases for any possible connection.

Mears said Haro is one of a handful of American citizens arrested in Mexico in the last several months in connection with a sex crime.

"We are the largest U.S. city that abuts the actual international ports of entry," Mears said. "That does create a situation where criminals can take advantage of that situation and cross into Mexico where the forensic abilities aren't the same as on the U.S. side."

Improved cooperation between U.S. and Mexican authorities has increased the likelihood of finding such criminals, Mears said.