Man Charged With 2 Jersey City Sex Assaults

JERSEY CITY, NJ — The Hudson County Prosecutor's office announced they made an arrest in two of the four Jersey City sex assaults that occurred last weekend, charging one man with two of the alleged rapes.

Darell McRae, 30, of Jersey City, was arrested Tuesday afternoon, July 3. He was charged with sexually assaulting and trying to kill a woman this past Monday in the Greenville section, and then just two hours later, again sexually assaulting a second woman at knifepoint in the West Side section of the city.

Four women total reported they were sexually assaulted in Jersey City last weekend, in a time period spanning Saturday, June 29 through Monday, July 1. McRae was charged with two of the sex assaults, which both occurred on Monday, said police. Police have not said if the other two sex assaults are related.

Police say McRae attacked the first woman shortly after 1:00 a.m. Monday in the area of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Stevens Avenue in the Greenville section. The woman, a 25-year-old from Bayonne, was found by police on the sidewalk, bleeding from cuts to her neck and hand. She told police that she and a male suspect had agreed to have consensual sex at an unknown location in Jersey City. When they met, they had an argument, which led to her being stabbed with a knife and sexually assaulted. McRae was was charged with attempted murder, aggravated sexual assault and other charges in that incident.

Not even two hours later, police say McRae attacked and sexually assaulted another woman, this time at 2:40 a.m. on West Side Avenue and Union Street in the West Side section of the city. The woman, 28, from Jersey City, told police she made contact with a man on Westside Avenue who offered to give her a ride home. After following him on foot to an unknown area, the man allegedly used a knife to hold her down and sexually assault her. In that incident, McRae was charged with aggravated sexual assault, possession of a weapon (knife) and other charges.

McRae is currently being held at the Hudson County jail.

Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez credited the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit and the Jersey City Police Department for the investigation and McRae's arrest.

Both women were taken to the Jersey City Medical Center for treatment.

As Patch reported, the other two sex assaults both occurred Saturday, June 29:

In the first incident, shortly after 4:00 a.m. Saturday, police were called for a reported sexual assault that occurred at the Courtyard by Marriott, located at 540 Washington Blvd. in Jersey City. Police found a 21-year-old woman from Jersey City who reported that she was sexually assaulted a short time after 2:30 a.m. by an unknown man she met earlier that night, Friday night, in Newark.

Then at approximately 8:50 a.m. Saturday, Jersey City police were called to a home in Jersey City on a report of a sexual assault. At the home, the woman, 25, said that she had been sexually assaulted shortly after 7:15 a.m. that morning. She said the attack happened at an unknown location in Jersey City after accepting a ride from an unknown man as she traveled from Hoboken back to her apartment.

Again, police have not said if those two incidents are related. No arrests have been made in those incidents.

Initial Patch report: Fourth Sexual Assault Now Reported In Jersey City In Past Weekend