NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – Norfolk authorities believe they’ve caught a “serial rapist” responsible for a string of sexual assaults and abductions that happened 15 years ago.
A grand jury in Norfolk indicted 33-year-old William Phelps IV on 27 felony charges on Wednesday. Those charges stem from attacks that happened on four dates between December 2007 and October 2008.
Phelps was 18 and 19 years old at the time of the attacks. He’s accused of sexually assaulting six people and abducting three others in Norfolk. Authorities say all of the victims were girls or women between the ages of 15 and 18 years old.
Phelps is charged with the following crimes:
Dec. 13, 2007
- Abduct: intent to defile
- Abduct: intent to defile
- Abduct: intent to defile
- Rape: by force/threat
- Use of a firearm in the commission of a felony
- Attempted sodomy
- Object sexual penetration: by force
Jan. 2, 2008
- Abduct: intent to defile
- Abduct: intent to defile
- Rape: by force/threat
- Aggravated sexual battery: by force/weapon
- Use of a firearm in the commission of a felony
Jan. 9, 2008
- Use of a firearm in the commission of a felony
- Wear masks in certain places
- Forcible sodomy: type not clear
- Sodomy: victim helpless/force
- Sodomy: victim helpless/force
- Abduct: intent to defile
- Abduct: intent to defile
- Rape: by force/threat
- Sodomy: victim helpless/force
- Aggravated sexual battery: by force/weapon
- Aggravated sexual battery: by force/weapon
Oct. 23, 2008
- Abduct: intent to defile
- Abduct: intent to defile
- Attempted rape: by force/threat
- Attempted sodomy
Phelps was first arrested in August 2022 after police say he lied on a form while trying to buy a gun in Virginia Beach. Norfolk police used DNA collected when he was arrested in Virginia Beach to link Phelps to a rape that happened on Verdun Avenue on Jan. 9, 2008. Norfolk police charged him in that attack in October.
The victims of the Verdun Avenue attack were two teenage girls who were abducted at gunpoint while walking to their bus stop. Police believe Phelps raped them behind a shed.
Phelps wasn’t the first suspect in the case. The day of the attack, police arrested 16-year-old Shaka Harrell. The teenager was exonerated by DNA evidence, but not before he spent two months in jail.
10 On Your Side traveled to Philadelphia to talk to Harrell about Phelps’ arrest. Harrell said he hopes the charges will bring closure to the victims and clear his name for good.
“I hope they can find closure. I hope their moms can find closure,” Harrell said.
“I don’t know the guy. I don’t want to know the guy,” he said. “I’m just happy my name is cleared.”
Police already had a hunch back in 2008 that the suspect in the Verdun Avenue case may have been the same perpetrator in an attack that happened the week before on Robin Hood Road. Investigators told 10 On Your Side that the sexual assaults happened within a mile of each other and the suspect fit the same description.
The police department’s initial hunch may have been right. Phelps is now charged in the Robin Hood Road assaults, which happened on Jan. 2, 2008. Authorities say two teenagers were walking down the busy street when Phelps threatened them and told them he had a gun. He allegedly forced them to walk about a block to a wooded area, where he sexually assaulted them.
10 On Your Side’s investigative team is working to learn the details of the other attacks Phelps is charged in.
Continue to check WAVY.com for updates.