A man accused 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 captured during a coordinated operation involving the NYPD, the U.S. Marshals Service and Miami Beach police at the fast-food restaurant on the 1100 block of Washington Avenue.
“The NYPD will stop at nothing to get dangerous criminals off our streets,” the department said in a post on X.
Dereck Rivera-Deleon was arrested Tuesday while working at a Miami Burger King in connection with the alleged Oct. 24 rape of a woman in Central Park. (Miami Beach Police)
Authorities said investigators tracked Rivera-Deleon to South Florida, where he had recently arrived and started working at the restaurant.
His arrest came after detectives investigated an Oct. 24 rape reported near the eastern boundary of Central Park in Manhattan.
An extraditable warrant tied to that alleged attack was issued Monday.
According to police, officers responded at approximately 8:30 p.m. after receiving a report of an assault near East 66th Street and Fifth Avenue.
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Police had been searching for Rivera-Deleon after a woman reported that she was raped in Central Park on Oct. 24. (NYPD)
The 39-year-old woman told detectives that a man confronted her, threatened her with a knife and forced her into a wooded area of the park. Police said he raped her before escaping.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had previously called the alleged attack “horrific.”
Miami Beach police said DNA evidence and identifications by victims also linked Rivera-Deleon to alleged Central Park sexual assaults in 2021 and 2023. He is expected to face charges related to both earlier cases, authorities said.
A 39-year-old woman reported that a man held her at knifepoint, forced her into a wooded area of Central Park and raped her on Oct. 24. (FNTV)
“When violent offenders flee to evade justice, we will ensure there is no corner of the country where they can hide,” Ricky J. Patel, U.S. marshal for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement.
Rivera-Deleon was booked at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in South Florida. He remains held without bond while extradition proceedings move forward, after which he is expected to be returned to New York to face sexual assault charges.