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PROVO — Police arrested a man Friday who allegedly broke into an apartment and fondled a BYU student.
But investigators do not believe he is the same man responsible for at least 14 incidents of groping women around campus since January.
About 1:30 a.m. Friday, Brigham Young University police officers and officers from the Provo Police Department arrested Cyr Delinos Narcisse, 22, for investigation of forcible sexual abuse and burglary.
He is accused breaking into a woman's apartment three days earlier.
About 3 a.m. Tuesday, police believe Narcisse entered the Wyview Park Student Family Housing, 2060 N. University Ave., on campus. A woman who got up after hearing the door open was confronted by the man in the apartment hallway.
"Upon seeing the victim, Cyr grabbed her by both arms and pushed her up against a wall. He then proceeded to kiss the victim on the mouth and sexually assault her under her clothing," according to a police affidavit filed in 4th District Court. "The victim fought back and tore the seams of Cyr's jacket pocket."
After the woman screamed and fought back, the intruder ran away. The woman gave police a description of the suspect. But more important, BYU Police Lt. Arnie Lemmon said a nearby video security camera recorded a vehicle with a missing hubcap.
"It had some unique features. We've been saturating the area with officers (looking for the suspect)," Lemmon said. "It was 90 percent good police work and 10 percent luck, I guess."
Thursday, officers spotted a vehicle and a man who matched the earlier descriptions parked at the Stadium Terrace Apartments, 1960 N. Canyon Road.
"They sat on the car. And the suspect comes out; he walks to the car but doesn't get in it. He walks another direction, so they pulled over parallel to him. They engaged him in some conversation to get a good look at him, and he was wearing the same coat he was wearing the night he attacked her in her apartment," Lemmon said.
The ripped coat, he said, was a "key piece of evidence."
Narcisse has a New York driver's license. He was staying with a tenant who attends Utah Valley University. But Lemmon said Narcisse seems to have very few ties to Utah.
"He has no affiliation with BYU or anything in Utah that we're aware of," he said.
Related:
More groping cases reported at BYU
Several more women have reported they were groped by a man near the BYU campus, and police are asking for the public's help to find him. He is accused of sexually assaulting 14 women so far this year.Detectives did not have any evidence Friday linking Narcisse to any other recent crimes. Lemmon said investigators will still try to figure out why he picked that particular apartment to enter on Tuesday, and whether or not it was random.
"We don't know right now. Here again, the officers will spend quite a bit of time putting together his history," he said.
"Now we're really focusing on this other guy, or guys," Lemmon said, referring to 14 reports of women being groped on or near campus in the past two months. Although the groper is no longer linked to the apartment break-in, police fear his actions are still escalating.
The gropings started on Jan. 23 with two incidents within 2 ½ hours of each other near Helaman Halls and Heritage Halls. In those incidents, the man swatted or grabbed the buttocks of two women, according to police. His actions escalated to breast groping by the next reported incident on Feb. 19 near the Bell Tower.
Two women were reportedly attacked on Wednesday. Because of the publicity the case has received, four more women stepped forward Thursday to report they, too, had been groped in recent weeks.
In each case, a man either jogs by a woman, or group of women, and grabs them as he runs by, or casually stands and waits for them to walk by him before attacking, according to police.
Investigators are looking for a white man in his early to late 20s who is about 5 feet 6 or 7 inches tall, weighs about 150 pounds, is clean-shaven and has spiky blond hair. Although he wears different clothes each time, he has been seen wearing a black hoodie and stone-washed blue jeans, or in another case a black knit hat, gray sweatshirt and white gloves. He has also worn a baseball cap, workout clothes, leggings while jogging, jogging shorts, and sweatshirts or T-shirts with "BYU" on them.
Anyone with information is asked to call BYU police at 801-422-2222.
