Crime & Safety
Woman Helps Cops Nab Accused Serial Rapist With Grubhub SOS: Bronx DA
"Please call police," the woman reportedly wrote to a Yonkers eatery. "Please don't make it obvious."
NEW YORK CITY — A quick-thinking woman who was held hostage by a serial rapist helped cops capture him by using the Grubhub app to summon police, according to Bronx prosecutors and reports.
Kemoy Royal, 32, stands accused of sexually assaulting a woman and raping two others, one of whom sent an SOS text to a Yonkers restaurant on June 18, according to Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark.
"Please call police," the woman wrote, according to a News12 Westchester report. "His going to call me when u delivered come with the cones please don't make it obvious."
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Employees called 911, the outlet reported. Clark confirmed the arrest was linked to the message.
"In one of the incidents, a woman was rescued by police after she sent a message to a restaurant on a food-delivery app," Clark said in a statement.
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The string of assaults began on June 13 when Royal raped a 27-year-old woman he met on a dating app after inviting her to his Eastchester home, prosecutors said.
The next attack unfolded the following day when Royal told a 26-year-old woman he met on the street that he knew her through a friend, authorities said.
Royal lured the woman to his apartment, refused to let her leave, threatened to kill her and forced her to perform sexual acts on him, prosecutors said.
Royal also bit her chest and choked her before letting her go early June 15, authorities said.
Finally, on July 18, Royal met with a 24-year-old woman he'd spoken with on an online dating app and who would later summon police through Grubhub, prosecutors said.
Royal brought the 24-year-old to his home, refused to let her leave, threatened to kill her, choked and raped her at knifepoint, according to a Bronx district attorney's release.
Royal had taken away the woman's phone when she tried to call police, but gave it back after she asked to order food, said prosecutors.
Now Royal faces strangulation and rape charges, his bail is set at $300,000 and he's next due in court Oct. 11, according to court records.
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