Residents in the Mount Vernon area have been put on alert after a string of rapes and burglaries over the past several weeks in which a man gained entry through unlocked windows, sometimes after climbing up fire escapes, with a Maryland Institute College of Art student among the victims.
Neighborhood groups and area institutions, such as the University of Baltimore and MICA, began issuing warnings late last week, and police have added patrol officers to the area. Composite sketches of possible suspects are circulating in the community, urging residents to call police with any information.
Police are exploring similarities between as many as six recent sexual assaults, including one that occurred in Charles Village in July, and a number of burglaries.
"There hasn't been a ground-floor [attack] so far," said Lt. Dorsey McVicker Jr., who has visited more than 100 apartments warning residents in hopes of preventing further incidents as police search for the assailant. "He's climbing up the fire escapes and entering through third- and second-story windows. This predator is coming in and finding women sleeping."
The attacks come amid a jump in violent crimes and break-ins across the Central District, which includes Bolton Hill, Reservoir Hill, Mount Vernon and the Inner Harbor. Though property crimes have fallen 7 percent, compared with the same period last year, violent incidents - including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assaults - have jumped 6 percent. As of Nov. 1, residential burglaries had risen 10 percent, and sex offenses and rapes were up.
Paul Warren, vice president of the Mount Vernon-Belvedere Association, said break-ins remain rare in the neighborhood. But he said the incidents are a reminder for residents to secure their homes and be cautious.
"As an urban community, I think we're pretty sophisticated about crime. Then again, this is a real anomaly," Warren said. "We don't have this kind of crime in Mount Vernon. ... Perhaps we've not been as on-guard as we should be."
Earlier in the year, a rash of sexual assaults in Charles Village, about a half-mile north of Mount Vernon, stoked similar fears. A 44-year-old man was charged in May with the rape of a woman at gunpoint after she returned home from a grocery store.
Police have compiled two composite sketches based on interviews with victims, and detectives from the sexual offense and burglary units are comparing notes to determine whether the incidents are linked, said Officer Troy Harris, a Baltimore police spokesman.
