Covington – St. Tammany Parish sheriff’s deputies arrested a man on suspicion of raping a woman in the weeks following Hurricane Katrina.
Darren Dubrel, 49, of Slidell, was charged with forcible rape and second degree kidnapping. Both offenses carry a maximum sentence of 40 years each.
Investigators say Dubrel met with the victim at a Slidell area bar in September of 2005. Dubrel offered to help the woman with repairs to her storm-damaged home. The two left the bar to exchange information, when Dubrel forced her into his pickup truck and took her to an unknown residence where he raped her repeatedly through the night, deputies said.
The woman was able to escape the next morning and contacted police in the area. She could not identify her attacker, but a recent hit in the state’s DNA database named Dubrel as the suspect.
Dubrel was arrested July 1 without incident. He is being held in the St. Tammany Parish Jail on $300,000 bond.
