A Phoenix man has been arrested in connection with the sexual assault of a woman last Friday at Mill Avenue and 4th Street in Tempe. The man, Akram Abdul-Hameed, is on trial currently for criminal damage, trespassing and assault in a separate Tempe incident that occurred in June.
The 26-year-old suspect had seen the victim on Mill Avenue in the past before attacking her just after midnight on Friday, cops say. The woman — not an ASU student, in case you were wondering — was ambushed by Abdul-Hameed, who put his hand over her mouth, pulled her up to a secluded, second-story balcony and sexually assaulted her, police said. A few minutes later, she was able to free herself enough to be able to yell for help. The attacker fled as two people nearby heard the woman's cries.
Police soon identified the suspect and arrested him at his home near 15th Avenue and Indian School.
Back in June, cops nabbed the man at a pool hall after he allegedly attacked the residents of a home near Broadway and Price roads. In that incident, described in an Arizona Republic article at the time, Abdul-Hameed snuck into the home of some people he knew at about 3:30 a.m., threatened a person with a small knife, jumped on a car's hood and threw a rock threw a patio window. He's scheduled for a September trial in that case.
Court records show the man also spent a few months in jail in 2006 on charges of DUI and endangerment.
This latest charge could be the one that takes Abdul-Hameed off the streets for good.
(UPDATE: Charges of sexual asasult against Akram Abdul-Hameed were later dismissed as part of a plea deal. Court records show he pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual abuse, (one in 2007, the other in August 2009, and kidnapping.) He was sentenced to 10 years.)