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Ivan Cheung is charged with four counts of aggravated rape, two counts of rape of a child with force, two charges of aggravated rape of a child with force, and two counts of statutory rape of a child, the Suffolk County District Attorney said. A judge issued a $1 million bail, $250,000 for each rape count. Cheung did not appear in court, but his attorney entered the not guilty plea on his behalf.
Prosecutors say Cheung picked up a 13-year-old girl in Chinatown in 2003, drove her to another location, and raped her at knifepoint. He stabbed her in the shoulder during the attack, authorities said. Investigators believe he did it again a week later when he picked up a 14-year-old girl in the Charles Circle area, took her somewhere else, and raped her at knifepoint. She was also stabbed during the attack, authorities said.
Prosecutors believe he struck again in 2005. Investigators say he picked up a 23-year-old near Park Plaza, raped her with a knife to her throat, and stabbed her numerous times. Authorities said he raped an 18-year-old woman in the North End in 2006.
Detectives said a federal grant allowed them to reexamine sexual assault kits from this case. They contain evidence investigators and medical staff collect following a reported attack.
Officers began watching Cheung earlier this summer. In June, they saw him throw away a cigarette near the South Bay Mall area after he finished smoking it, Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum told reporters after Tuesday's hearing. Detectives collected it, and the DNA matched DNA found in the case involving the two adult victims, he said. Investigators said the similarities to the earlier attacks – including the violence, type of car, and description of the attacker — led them to connect the cases, the news station said.
Cheung works as a vice president at State Street. The company told NBC that he is on suspended pending further investigation.
“If Mr. Cheung thought that the passage of years had somehow erased the possibility of him facing justice for these vicious crimes, he was very much mistaken," Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said. "The detectives who worked this case deserve enormous credit for staying the course and bringing him in to face these charges."
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