ANCHORAGE — An Anchorage man was arrested Tuesday on accusations that he is a serial rapist responsible for a rash of unsolved violent crimes dating back at least to 2001, according to Anchorage police.

At least six victims were assaulted in that time, and police say Anchorage resident Richard Dorsey, 43, is the assailant. He is charged with one count of attempted murder, four counts of first-degree sexual assault, two counts of attempted first-degree sexual assault, four counts of third-degree assault, one count of second-degree assault and one count of fourth-degree assault.

Special Victims Unit detectives say they developed Dorsey as a suspect in the crimes in March when he was on trial for sexually assaulting a woman in the Carrs grocery store on Huffman Road in July 2006. As police were preparing for trial, Detective Sgt. McCoy found "striking similarities between Dorsey and the unknown suspect in several unsolved sexual assaults," police spokesman Lt. Dave Parker said.

The trial ended in a hung jury. As police were preparing for the retrial, investigators took DNA samples from Dorsey and determined they conclusively matched one from an unsolved 2002 rape.

Altogether, police say, they were able to link him to the Carrs assault and five additional victims.

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