Crime

Cold case: Authorities say they’ve solved a series of 2013 sexual assaults in New Bedford

Orlando Robles was indicted on 10 counts in connection with the 2013 attacks that “put the community at fear."

Orlando Robles Handout

By Marta Hill

3 minutes to read

Almost nine years after the first incident was reported, a jury has indicted a man for a string of sexual assaults that occurred in Massachusetts in 2013, according to a release from the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office.

Orlando Robles, formerly of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, was indicted by a Bristol County Grand Jury on 10 counts: three of rape, two of assault with intent to rape, one of kidnapping, one of indecent assault and battery of a person over the age of 14, two of assault and battery, and one of use of a motor vehicle during a felony. 

The indictment came after an investigation by Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III’s Cold Case Unit and New Bedford police detectives.

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“I’m very pleased to announce this defendant was indicted by the Grand Jury for a series of sexual assaults that put the community at fear due to the violent and random nature of the attacks,” Quinn said in the statement. 

In June and July of 2013, four women were allegedly assaulted in separate attacks around New Bedford. Those cases, along with four similar incidents in Corpus Christi, Texas, built the case against Robles, according to the DA’s office.

Robles, 47, is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in Texas for one assault and an incident of indecent exposure. Massachusetts detectives traveled to Texas last month to interview him. 

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According to the Bristol DA’s office, the incidents in both New Bedford and Texas had a variety of similarities: in most cases deceitful or rapid initial contact was quickly followed by the use of violent force and an attempt to rape the victim. In all cases the man fled right after. 

The first incident in New Bedford occurred on June 7, 2013, when a driver allegedly offered the woman a ride, and then didn’t go to the woman’s destination and wouldn’t let her get out of the car, according to the DA’s office. The man allegedly began to strangle her and attempted to put his hands in her pants, but was unable to do so, according to authorities. The woman was able to break free and exit the truck, and after a physical altercation, the man let her go and drove off.

A few weeks later, on June 29, a man allegedly opened a woman’s car door after she parked in her driveway, prevented her from yelling, and sexually assaulted her. She fought back, her son came out of the house, and they chased the man away, according to prosecutors.

On July 7, 2013, a woman was allegedly sexually assaulted near her home. The man allegedly grabbed her from behind and assaulted her. She bit him, and he ran away. 

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After that incident, the DA’s office said police recovered surveillance footage that captured a man running down the street at the time the woman indicated the assault occurred. He was observed running to a small pick-up truck, consistent with a late-model Ford Ranger, that matched the description of the vehicle from the first incident, according to authorities. 

In the fourth incident, which happened July 13, a woman was having a phone conversation in the car when a man allegedly approached her, punched her, began to strangle her, and reached into her pants, sexually assaulting her. He then was reported to have fled the area. 

According to the DA’s office, police patrol in downtown New Bedford was enhanced, and on July 14 officers were able to locate a vehicle matching the description. The operator, Robles, allegedly committed a traffic infraction and was stopped and taken to police headquarters. 

Detective Stephen Taylor, who has been with the investigation throughout its history, interviewed Robles, who denied the harassment allegations and said he was in New Bedford to work as a scallop fisherman, according to authorities.  

Later, prosecutors said police went to the address Robles provided and discovered that he had abruptly left and told his landlord to forward his deposit to an address in Texas. 

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The investigation continued for several years, until the Bristol County Grand Jury voted March 13, 2022, regarding all four incidents from 2013. The Bristol County District Attorney’s office will seek to lodge a warrant against Robles requiring him to answer the charges before completing his sentence in Texas.

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