SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A man accused of multiple sexual assaults in Sacramento dating back to 2010 has finally been caught.
35-year-old Kabeh Cummings was booked into Sacramento County Jail Friday after being arrested in New York.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office says Kabeh Cummings is linked to three incidents. One that happened in the county near Watt Avenue and Auburn Boulevard and two in the city of Sacramento. He’s facing 11 charges, including three charges of kidnapping to commit rape.
For the sheriff's office, the case started back in September 2013. A woman was violently sexually assaulted near Watt Avenue and Auburn Boulevard.
And in November 2021, a detective's personal passion for solving these types of cases helped lead to the arrest, according to Detective Sgt. Heather Fiel.
“There was evidence that hadn’t been processed previously... from that she was able to get a full DNA profile,” said Fiel.
Seven months later that profile was developed and put into CODIS, a national database of DNA profiles from convicted offenders. It not only matched one of the sheriff’s office cases but it also matched two other sexual assault cases with the Sacramento Police Department dating back to 2010.
“Detectives were able to determine that Cummings was living in New York,” said Fiel.
Last month, they recruited the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the New York Police Department to help. Items thrown away by Cummings were tested and were a match.
The 35-year-old was living in Staten Island New York when he was arrested.
ABC10 has confirmed he worked for the city of Sacramento from 2008 to 2014 during the time of the accused sexual assaults. He worked in the City’s Department of Youth, Parks and Community Engagement (YPCE) from 2008 to 2014 in both part-time and full-time capacities. The majority of his employment was with the START program as a program leader and site coordinator. The City is in the process of confirming the exact locations where he worked and the roles he played.
Cummings was named in a lawsuit in New York in 2019. He was accused of having a sexual relationship with one of the 14-year-old girls he was charged with supervising in a foster care program. The case was discontinued with prejudice.
“It’s a really good feeling knowing we’ve taken, truly, a monster off of the streets,” said Fiel.
ABC10 spoke to one of the victims, who wished to remain anonymous.
“When it all first happened, I was really hoping that the DNA and everything would help catch him but as the years went by, I lost hope," the victim said.
"I feel like justice is being served. I feel at ease. I got my closure. I know who it is and that he's going to be paying for his huge mistakes.”
After waiting a decade for closure, it begs the question as to why the evidence wasn't initially processed.
“Due to just the number of cases and the amount of evidence to be processed, things need to be prioritized as what is most likely to produce the needed evidence, so when evidence is collected it goes to the lab and they make a decision on what’s going to be tested,” said Fiel.
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