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Houston serial rape suspect now charged in Montgomery County case

Prosecutors say Arturo Mar held his victims at knife point and threatened to cut them if they didn't have sex with him.

HOUSTON – Another charge of aggravated sexual assault has been filed against a serial rape suspect from Houston.

Montgomery County Sheriff's investigators say 24-year-old Jorge Arturo Mar sexually assaulted an 18-year-old woman there in August.

The two met on a dating app and agreed to meet up, according to MCSO. The young woman told deputies when she got into Mar's vehicle, he held a knife to her neck and sexually assaulted her. He then drove her back to their original meeting location and released her.

Mar is suspected of raping six other women in Houston and one in Harris County.

During his first court appearance in Houston Friday, prosecutors said Mar targeted his victims through the MeetMe dating app.

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He was arrested this week on a sexual assault case from August 2017.

Prosecutors said he would lure his victims into his Camaro, take them somewhere isolated, rape them at knife point and rob them.

"You're ... going to have sex with me or I'll cut you," he told the 2017 victim, according to prosecutors.

DNA connected Mar to at least three other cases.

We've been asked not to show Mar's face because police are still putting him in photo lineups.

Police are encouraging other potential victims to contact them.

Mar is being held on a $1 million bond.

His public defender argued the bail should be set lower than $1 million since he’s a life-long Harris County resident with no prior convictions. The judge denied that request, calling Mar a clear and present danger to women in Harris County.

Victims’ advocates remind people to meet potential dates in a public place, let your friends know where you're going and take your own car.

"Don’t give information about where you live, where you work, where you like to go for coffee, what your favorite bar is. When, if you don’t want to have contact with someone anymore, they won’t know where to find you,” advises Sara Miller, an Equal Opportunity Specialist at the University of Houston.

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