Tuesday, June 11, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
A sports watch found outside a eastern valley home may be that of a serial rapist who has sexually assaulted three girls, Metro Police Sgt. Ralph Hemington said.
The black, digital watch, with the trade name Aqualite printed on its round face, was found after an April 23 rape of a school-age girl, police said.
"If somebody knows or recognizes the watch and they know a person no longer has it, then we would like to know who that is," Hemington said. "It's potentially somebody who could be involved in this."
For the first time since the attacks began in April, police have released a brief description of the man.
He is described as 20 to 50 years old with dark skin and weighs 140 to 180 pounds.
Police have had a tough time coming up with a good description because the girls were so badly traumatized, Hemington said.
Meanwhile, a man who was jailed after the first attack, on April 14, was released Sunday from the Clark County Detention Center. The district attorney's office dismissed charges against 41-year-old Daniel Reser even though he confessed to the assault. His attorney said that Reser, who has a mental disability and is also hard of hearing, was bullied into confessing. Two attacks occurred while Reser was jailed.
The most recent case, on April 26, was thwarted when the would-be rapist snuck into a girl's bedroom and found the girl's mother in the bed instead, Hemington said. The mother screamed and the man left, he said.
All the attacks occurred within half a mile in a neighborhood near Charleston and Nellis boulevards, Hemington said. The assailant wore gloves and covered his face. Police have extra patrols on duty in the neighborhood, he said.
Police are asking anyone with information about the watch to call the sexual assault unit at 229-2654.
archive
