A man suspected of committing three sexual assaults in New York City's Central Park over a five-year period was arrested Tuesday at a Burger King in Miami Beach, Florida, authorities said. Dereck Rivera-Deleon, 30, was taken into custody in an operation involving New York and Florida police and federal marshals.
The arrest took place at a fast-food restaurant in the 1100 block of Washington Avenue. Investigators had tracked Rivera-Deleon to South Florida, where authorities said he had recently arrived and found work at the restaurant. The NYPD, U.S. Marshals Service and Miami Beach police participated in the operation that led to his detention.
Authorities sought Rivera-Deleon following an investigation into a rape reported on Oct. 24 near the eastern side of Central Park in Manhattan. An extraditable warrant connected to that assault was issued Monday, a day before officers took him into custody in Miami Beach.
Police said officers responded to an assault report near East 66th Street and Fifth Avenue at approximately 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 24. The 39-year-old woman told investigators that a man approached her, threatened her with a knife and forced her into a wooded area of the park. According to her account to police, he raped her and then fled.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had previously called the October attack a "horrific" act. In a statement posted on X about the arrest, the NYPD said it would continue pursuing dangerous criminals to remove them from the city's streets.
The investigation also linked Rivera-Deleon to two earlier alleged sexual assaults in Central Park, one in 2021 and another in 2023, according to Miami Beach police. Authorities said those connections were established through DNA evidence and victim identifications. He is expected to face charges relating to both earlier incidents as well as the October case.
Ricky J. Patel, the U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement that authorities would pursue violent offenders who flee to avoid justice wherever they go in the country.
Following his arrest, Rivera-Deleon was booked into South Florida's Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. He remains in custody without bond while extradition proceedings are pending to return him to New York to face sexual assault charges.
