StarBulletin.com

Arrest made in 2 rapes


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POSTED: Tuesday, February 10, 2009

A 21-year-old man allegedly raped two women in similar attacks by offering them a ride, attacking them in his truck and later sexually assaulting them on benches, according to court documents.

Police charged John Veikoso with first-degree sex assault for two attacks about three weeks apart in which he allegedly beat and raped two women.

In one case, Veikoso drove the woman he raped to a hospital so she could get treated for the injuries he caused. He is being held in lieu of $2 million bail.

Veikoso allegedly raped the first victim on Jan. 18. The woman, 23, was working as a prostitute near Pali Highway and South Kuakini Street when she agreed to have sex with Veikoso for $200, according to police.

He was driving her in his green pickup truck on Pali Highway toward Kailua when he allegedly said his mother was a hooker and that the woman would never be prostituting herself again, court documents said.

He allegedly started punching the woman, while she tried to kicked him away and pushed herself into the window of the truck. The woman either was pushed out of the window or lost her balance and fell from the moving truck onto the road. She attempted to wave down passing cars, but he allegedly pulled her back into his truck, police allege.

He drove to Maunawili Elementary School in Kailua, where he let her wash off the blood before raping her on a bench, police said.

Afterward he offered to take her to the hospital and drove her to Tripler Army Medical Center, and offered to walk her to the guard post.

Several weeks later, on Saturday, Veikoso allegedly raped another woman, 19. This woman was waiting for her boyfriend at a bus stop near the Pali Highway Longs Drug Store at about 4 a.m. when Veikoso asked her whether she needed a ride.

“Hey, you want to cruise for a while?” Veikoso asked, to which she agreed.

As in the other alleged rape, he allegedly hit her in the car and drove her to Maunawili Elementary.

He also allegedly raped her on a bench near the school’s cafeteria.

Afterward he told her, “You can go, and you are lucky because I usually don’t let people leave afterwards.”

The woman flagged down a passing motorist and called police, who met her at the Aloha gas station on Kailua Road. Officers found Veikoso at 41-510 Flamingo St. in Waimanalo and arrested him.

The woman in the first rape identified Veikoso in a photograph after police drew parallels between the two incidents.