ETOWAH, TN.
(WRCB) – An accused serial rapist is behind bars.
Investigators
say he used online dating sites to choose his victims.
The three
victims, from three different cities, have one thing in common: all had
accounts with online dating sites.
Detectives
say that is how an Etowah man met the three women he's accused of attacking.
Dustin Moser
was out on bond in a rape case, when the third victim says he raped her.
Tuesday
night, investigators are hoping to keep Moser behind bars, and warn other potential
victims of the dangers of online dating.
"It really
surprised me, you know, that he would do something like that," says Rod Gore.
Rod Gore lives two doors down from where Etowah Police say 26-year-old Dustin Moser
raped a woman in the back seat of his SUV.
"She met him online," Detective Jim Shaw tells Channel 3. "Cupid.com."
Detective Jim Shaw says Moser connected with the 19-year-old woman from Benton
on a dating website.
The two met in person last week.
The victim drove from Polk County to the Family Dollar in Etowah, where she met
with Moser in the parking lot. From there, the two went back to his house.
The woman told police Moser insisted they stay in his car because his parents
were sleeping.
She claims he choked her, forced her into the back seat, and assaulted her.
"She has a lot of red marks on her neck and also on her hands," says Detective
Shaw.
A grand jury indicted Moser, and police took him into custody Wednesday night.
His arrest comes just five months after he was accused of raping two other
women.
"He actually met a girl online from Monroe County," Shaw says. "She came down.
The same thing happened. She alleged that she was raped by him. Then a month
and a half later he met a girl from Atlanta online. She came up here and the
same thing happened."
Shaw says Moser denied raping any of the women.
"He made the statement that he was dating her and he didn't rape her," says
Shaw.
But Shaw says the physical evidence against Moser is strong.
Moser's bond has been set at $500,000. Shaw hopes it's enough to keep him
behind bars.
"They say you're innocent until proven guilty, but with a pattern like this, I
feel better that he's in custody," says Shaw.
Rob Gore agrees, but is eager to hear his neighbor's side of the story.
"A lot of young girls walk up and down these streets," Gore says. "You just
don't want something like that in your neighborhood."
Sites like Cupid.com
offer safety tips for online dating.
They suggest
picking a public place to meet in person, arranging for your own transportation
and letting a friend or family member know where you're going.
Detective Shaw
says it's hard to know what you're going to get when using an online dating
service.
He suggests
avoiding them all together.
