Ypsilanti police release name, photo of suspect in 2 sexual assaults
Paul Cy Phelps III
Courtesy of Ypsilanti police
Police said Paul Cy Phelps III, an 18-year-old Detroit man, is wanted in connection with the Sept. 6 and Sept. 7 incidents in the 300 block of Jarvis Street and the 900 block of Railroad Street. Police said Phelps frequented Eastern Michigan University to meet the women but was not a student at the school.
“Both of them were acquaintance type (sexual assaults),” Detective Sgt. Thomas Eberts said.
Police said Phelps met a 22-year-old woman a few days before a party. After the party on Sept. 6, friends dropped off the woman at her home and Phelps came over a short time later and is accused of sexually assaulting the woman, police said. The incident was reported to police at 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 6.
Phelps is suspected of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman a day later in the 900 block of Railroad Street, police said. That incident was reported to police at 3 a.m. on Sept. 7.
Eberts said Phelps met the 19-year-old woman at a party and came back to her apartment with several friends. There were several people in the apartment when Phelps allegedly sexually assaulted the woman in a bedroom.
Neither woman was injured in the assaults and both went to local hospitals for tests following the incidents.
Police believe Phelps frequents the Ypsilanti area, mostly around the EMU campus. State records show Phelps is on probation for an unarmed robbery conviction in August 2011.
Phelps is banned from being on Eastern Michigan University’s campus after multiple contacts with campus police, Eberts said.
“He’s got at least one friend up here that we know he comes up and sees,” he said. “He’s been trespassed from Eastern’s campus; he’s had more than one contact with EMU Police.”
Anyone with information on Phelps’ whereabouts is encouraged to call Eberts at 734-482-9878 or Crime Stoppers 1-800-SPEAK UP (773-2587).
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
Cathy
Thu, Sep 13, 2012 : 10:10 a.m.
I don't think I'll be sending my daughter to EMU.
Cathy
Fri, Sep 14, 2012 : 10:25 a.m.
Still blaming the victim.
Shelly
Thu, Sep 13, 2012 : 10:44 a.m.
I don't think the issue is the school, at all. Maybe counsel her to wisely avoid parties and inviting people she has just met to her apartment late at night/early in the morning.
HeimerBoodle
Wed, Sep 12, 2012 : 8:10 p.m.
Sexual assault is, in itself, an "injury", so I'd count these women to have been "injured". If you mean they suffered no "further injuries" (e.g. broken bones), say that.
Tru2Blu76
Wed, Sep 12, 2012 : 7:16 p.m.
"Neither woman was injured in the assaults ..." Eh, just thinking that a better way of phrasing this information might have been more accurate. "injured" applies to rape as well as a number of other victimization crimes. BOTH women were INJURED by the rapist, see?
Suzanne
Wed, Sep 12, 2012 : 6:46 p.m.
I take it that this isn't the Asian male that we have been on the lookout for...
Billy
Wed, Sep 12, 2012 : 6:40 p.m.
"Both of them were acquaintance type (sexual assaults)," Detective Sgt. Thomas Eberts said. What does that mean...?
kalamityjane
Wed, Sep 12, 2012 : 7:36 p.m.
As in he didn't jump out from an alley and snatch them... The victims knew their attacker.