Possible serial rapist arrested in Fort Lauderdale for sexual battery

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Fort Lauderdale police arrested a man on sexual battery charges and believe he could be a serial rapist.

Bernardo Olarte, 39, was arrested Wednesday in connection to a sexual battery on a woman in an incident that occurred on June 16.

Olarte met the alleged victim in Fort Lauderdale's downtown entertainment district in the Himmarshee area.

Olarte is believed to have targeted other women as he is known to have frequented the area in which the crime occurred. 

"Based on information that we've collected throughout this investigation, we believe that there may be additional victims." said Fort Lauderdale police spokesperson Casey Liening. 

Olarte was arrested on similar charges, which were dropped, in 2017 in which a police report says he recorded several women having sex. The woman in the video were unable to be identified, so the case was dropped.

Detectives are now looking for others who were possibly victimized by Olarte.

Police are asking anyone who recognizes Olarte, or believes they have been victimized by him, to contact Sergeant H. Martinez at 954-828-5510 or Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.


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