Serial-Rape Suspect Arrested

A convicted rapist who is a suspect in a series of rapes -- committed after he allegedly confessed to an earlier attack -- was returned to Denver on Saturday after being arrested while driving a stolen car.

Brent J. Brents was arrested late Friday about 150 miles west of Denver, following a high-speed pursuit. Police tracked him by following signals from a cellphone stolen from an assault victim, Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman said.

Brents, 35, was being held in lieu of $25 million in bail.

He is suspected in sexual assaults against five women and girls this month in one Denver neighborhood.

Those attacks came nearly three months after police in Aurora let him go Nov. 23 after questioning him about claims that he inappropriately touched an 8-year-old boy. Aurora police said he told officers the boy was telling the truth, but no arrest warrant was issued until Jan. 26.

This month, Brents allegedly attacked five women, including two 11-year-old sisters and their 67-year-old grandmother, according to an arrest warrant. On Friday, another woman in the same area was assaulted, robbed and beaten. That woman’s cellphone and car were stolen, and Whitman said the phone helped lead to the capture.