01/11/11 — Man, 22, charged in local assaults

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Man, 22, charged in local assaults

By Steve Herring
Published in News on January 11, 2011 1:46 PM

John Lewis Chapman II

Evidence collected during a March 31 burglary arrest has helped Goldsboro police clear two other cases -- one that occurred March 18 and the other Jan. 7.

A first court appearance was held Monday for John Lewis Chapman II, 22, Wayne Memorial Drive, who has been charged in the series of three burglaries, two of which involved sexual assaults.

Chapman has been in the Wayne County Jail under $1 million bonds in both the March 18 and Jan. 7 cases. He is awaiting trial on the March 31 case.

Chapman was charged Friday with felony second-degree sex offense, first-degree burglary and second-degree kidnapping in the March 18 incident that occurred at a residence on New Hope Road in the Pinewood community.

The second set of charges is in connection with the Jan. 7 incident, again on New Hope Road in the Pinewood community.

The charges in that case are felony second-degree kidnapping, felony first-degree burglary, felony attempted second-degree sexual assault, felony common law robbery and felony possession of stolen goods.

Chapman was first arrested shortly after a March 31 attempted first-degree burglary in the 200 block of Windsor Creek Parkway.

Goldsboro police Sgt. Dwayne Dean said police noticed similarities between the March 17 and March 31 cases.

"Based on that, we were able to collect DNA from Mr. Chapman and sent it off (to the SBI) for analysis," Dean said.

The DNA was compared to evidence collected at the scene of the March 17 incident.

"On Jan. 7 of this year, there was another incident in very close proximity to the March 18 incident on New Hope Road," Dean said. "We felt like he was responsible for that one as well, even though we had not gotten the results from the SBI at that time."

The SBI was contacted and police were told the analysis had just been completed on Jan. 5.

"The results indicated (Chapman) was responsible for the March 18 (incident) and a warrant was secured," he said.

Chapman was arrested by police and Wayne sheriff's deputies at his home without incident.

"It was during the arrest that items of evidence were discovered from the Jan. 7 case and we were able to charge him with that," Dean said.

The Jan. 7 burglary and sexual assault had occurred at approximately 2:15 a.m.

Dean said that both victims were women. The March 18 victim was 41 years old and the one on Jan. 7 was 53.

"He did not know them," he said. "It appears to be random."