Central Park serial rape suspect arrested in Florida, NYPD says

New York City police and federal authorities arrested a man in Florida on Tuesday in connection with a string of Central Park rapes that date to at least 2021, authorities said.

Dereck Rivera-Deleon, 30, was nabbed while he was working at a Burger King in Miami, New York police said in a statement.

He has been booked on suspicion of “raping a woman in Central Park” on Oct. 24, in addition to two other “rapes that occurred in Central Park in 2023 and 2021,” the police statement said.

“The NYPD will stop at nothing to get dangerous criminals off our streets,” it said.

Rivera-Deleon was booked into Miami-Dade County Corrections on Tuesday, accused of being an out-of-state fugitive who is set for possible extradition, according to jail records. It was not immediately clear whether he has an attorney.

A 39-year-old woman was pulled into a wooded area of the park near East 66th Street and Fifth Avenue around 9 p.m. on Oct. 24 and assaulted at knifepoint, officials said.

Police released security images of the suspect following the attack, wearing dark clothes and carrying a dark backpack.

Amy Boon contributed.