Abraham Shorey, the alleged Collegetown Creeper, was ordered held at the San Diego Central Jail on $1 million bail after a preliminary hearing last week. He will stand trial Sept. 12 on charges of three counts of burglary, one count of assault with intent to commit rape and one count of attempted rape by force or violence, with a knife.
Hon. Frederick Maguire, San Diego Superior Court judge, ruled that there was sufficient evidence for a trial.
If convicted, Shorey could face approximately 18 years in prison, according to Katherine Flaherty, San Diego deputy district attorney and case prosecutor, who said that she has been in contact with authorities in Ithaca. Flaherty said she expects the trial to last up to one week.
Starting in September 2003, the Collegetown Creeper has been connected with at least 20 incidents of watching and entering the apartments of female Cornell students, sometimes touching them, rubbing baby oil on them or cutting off their clothes.
Shorey was indicted in the fall of 2004, sent to Tompkins County Jail, and then fled Ithaca, forfeiting $5,000 bail.
The television program, “America’s Most Wanted,” taped Shorey’s profile and aired it five months ago. “We thought we could really help in this case…police had gone through most of their leads and were pretty sure Abraham Shorey had left the area,” said Jon Leiberman, reporter at America’s Most Wanted.
“We got dozens of tips when we ran it,” Leiberman said. “The Ithaca Police did a terrific job of painting a profile of this guy,” he said, adding that Shorey was eventually tracked down after the profile was aired on television.
Shorey was arrested on a minor violation in Eugene, Ore. but using an alias, succeeded at gaining release before the police realized that he was a wanted man from fingerprint test results.
He was re-arrested May 5 in the Normal Heights neighborhood of San Diego, and voluntarily provided a DNA sample. According to the preliminary hearing testimony, a woman awoke to find a stranger on top of her. He left after she bit his little finger, drawing blood, to which the police were able to match his DNA.
Before the hearing, which resulted in a trial date being set in San Diego, Shorey had been scheduled to be extradited back to Ithaca on May 25. He may still be sent back after the San Diego trial.
“Everybody in [Ithaca] can sleep a little easier knowing that the Collegetown Creeper isn’t around,” Leiberman said.