Tip helps Mesa police identify, arrest suspect in 2 sexual assaults

PHOENIX – With help from the public, Mesa police identified and arrested a suspect in two sexual assault cases Sunday night, authorities said.

Carl Creamer, 44, was taken into custody in Phoenix and booked on three counts of sexual assault, two counts of kidnapping and one count each of attempted sex assault and sex abuse, the Mesa Police Department said Monday.

The first victim reported that she’d been raped at gunpoint on Aug. 16 in a grocery store parking lot on Main Street near Alma School Road after being offered a ride by a man in a pickup truck, according to court documents.

A similar incident occurred 10 days later in a parking lot near Southern Avenue and Stapley Drive. The victim told police the man hit her in the head with a gun while she resisted his attack, but she was able to get out of the truck and escape.

Investigators connected the cases because of similarities in how the victims described the suspect’s appearance, his behavior and his vehicle.

Police said that a Ford F-150 pickup truck matching the one involved in the assaults and registered to Creamer was identified through a tip after they released a crime bulletin about the cases on Saturday.

Detectives watching Creamer’s Mesa apartment near Stapley Drive and U.S. 60 on Sunday saw him drive a Nissan Sentra to a residence near 27th Street and Broadway Road in Phoenix. The truck identified by the tipster was parked on the side of Phoenix residence. Police took Creamer into custody without incident.

Investigators served search warrants at both residences and found evidence connected to the crimes, including a gun and clothing matching descriptions given by the victims.

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