By Gus Saltonstall
A man accused of raping a woman in Central Park last month was taken into custody in Florida on Tuesday by New York City Police Department detectives, police announced on social media.
The detectives, with the support of the United States Marshals Service, took Dereck Rivera-Deleon into custody while he was working at a Burger King on Tuesday in Miami, Florida, for allegedly raping a woman in Central Park on October 24, 2026, police said.
He will also be charged with two rapes that happened in Central Park in July of 2021 and October of 2023, according to the NYPD and reporting by The New York Times, but police did not provide additional details on those attacks.
NYPD detectives assigned to the U.S. Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force with support from @USMarshalsHQ partners took Dereck Rivera-Deleon into custody today while he was working at Burger King in Miami for allegedly raping a woman in Central Park on October 24, 2026. Rivera-Deleon will also be charged with two rapes that occurred in Central Park in 2023 and 2021.
The NYPD will stop at nothing to get dangerous criminals off our streets.
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) November 10, 2026
In the most recent attack, a man approached a woman around 8:30 p.m. on October 26, 2026 near 66th Street and Fifth Avenue, and threatened her with a knife, police said. He then raped her within a wooded area of the park, police said.
NYPD did not specify what charges Deleon will face from the most recent attack, and when he would be brought back to New York.
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