Chatham law enforcement agencies are investigating a pair of violent crimes — serial rape and murder — making an arrest in the former and working with the State Bureau of Investigation in the latter.
Pittsboro police officers arrested Alejandro Jacobo-Marcos last Thursday in connection with a string of unsolved sexual assaults from more than 20 years ago, according to Chief Shorty Johnson.
An investigation into Jacobo-Marcos’ suspected crimes began in March when two victims contacted the department and accused him of abusing them in 1999.
“Jacobo-Marcos was known to the victims,” Johnson said, “and lived in Pittsboro at the time of the assault.”
Since then, Jacobo-Marcos moved to California. Detective Delaine Womach of the Pittsboro Police Department contacted authorities in Riverside County, California, who cooperated in the inter-departmental search and eventually located Jacobo-Marcos.
“After Detective Womack secured warrants in the case,” Johnson said, “the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office detained and held Jacobo-Marcos until he was extradited back to North Carolina.”
Jacobo-Marcos has been charged with 31 counts of indecent liberties with a minor, 16 counts of first-degree sex offense, six counts of sexual battery and one count of first degree kidnapping. He is being held under a $1 million dollar bond and is scheduled to appear in court on August 6.
Siler City shooting
Last Monday, Siler City police were dispatched to the 400 block of East Sixth Street in response to reports of gunshots, according to Siler City Police Chief Mike Wagner. Upon arrival, officers found one person who had been shot.
Police have not identified the victim, who eventually succumbed to the gunshot wounds at an undisclosed time. The department is conducting a homicide investigation with assistance from the State Bureau of Investigations, said Wagner, who declined to provide further details citing the sensitivity of an ongoing investigation.
The suspected murder is at least Siler City’s second fatal gun crime in the last six months. Earlier this month, an extradition team retrieved Sergio “Yovani” Rodriguez Pereira from Gwinnett County, Georgia, where he’d fled after allegedly shooting his brother-in-law, Ramon Hernandez.
Hernandez, 28, died Dec. 20 in the UNC-Chapel Hill Medical Center after he was shot several times in the torso. He’d been found earlier the same day on Waterford Street after authorities received reports of gunshots. A witness later identified Rodriguez as the shooter.
Rodriguez, 24, faces one count of first-degree murder and three counts of assault with a deadly weapon among other less serious charges. He is next scheduled to appear in court on June 30.
Siler City’s crime rate exceeds the state and national average, according to Wagner, who has worked to shore up his staff in his two years as chief. In the last complete year of data, the town had 67 violent crimes, he previously told the board of commissioners, including murder and rape, and 325 property crimes.
In Siler City’s budget for fiscal year 2021-22, which the commissioners adopted Monday, the police department stands to grow by more than 25% with plans to nearly double in the next three years.
Reporter D. Lars Dolder can be reached at dldolder@chathamnr.com and on Twitter @dldolder.