Port Matilda man charged in connection with serial rapes of Penn State students, police say
A nearly decadelong State College police investigation led to the arrest Tuesday of a Port Matilda man accused of raping and sexually assaulting four Penn State students.
Jeffrey Fields, 36, was accused by borough police of raping the women between August 2010 and July 2017 in State College.
The first was reported August 2010 in the area of Apple Alley, followed by a January 2011 reported rape in the area of Fraternity Row. The third was reported April 2011 in the area of Fairmount Avenue and South Burrowes Street. The fourth was reported July 2017 in the area of West Prospect Avenue and South Atherton Street.
Each case was linked by an exact match of Fields’ DNA and the allegations lodged by each woman detailed a similar, distinct pattern, borough police wrote in an affidavit of probable cause filed Tuesday.
Each were highly intoxicated, either 19 or 20 years old and were walking alone after midnight and before dawn, police wrote.
Three of four reported Fields pushed them either into overgrown trees or bushes, or dragged them behind a building. Another woman accused Fields of striking her in the face after she entered a vehicle, police wrote.
Officers relied on DNA gathered after each alleged rape to develop a genealogical database and conduct forensic genetic research, which police used to rule out several of Fields’ family members, police wrote.
Several distant relatives and family members, including Fields’ parents, submitted DNA to officers and were ruled out, police wrote.
Fields’ DNA match was a “statistical certainty” and his parents have only one biological son, Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna said in a statement.
Cantorna’s office is not aware of Fields having any prior convictions or criminal history.
“Today’s arrest is the result of the dedicated work of the State College Police Department; the professionalism of the (Sexual Assault Response Team) nurses at Mount Nittany Medical Center; cooperation of citizen witnesses who helped to identify the defendant and the dogged determination of lead detective Stephen Bosak of the State College Police Department,” Cantorna said.
A defense lawyer for Fields was not listed on a court document.
Fields was charged with eight felony counts of rape, four felony counts each of sexual assault and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and and three misdemeanor counts of simple assault.
He was arraigned Tuesday by District Judge Don Hahn, who denied him bail. Fields is detained at the Centre County Correctional Facility.
His preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 29.
This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 4:40 PM.