PHOENIX — An alleged serial rapist has been taken into custody in connection with a series of crimes in Phoenix that date as far back as 1998, authorities announced Friday.

The Phoenix Police Department said 54-year-old Abraham Ramirez is facing multiple counts of kidnapping and sexual assault for the crimes, which happened between 1998 and 2013.

The department said Ramirez was arrested for a kidnapping and sexual assault in 1994 in California, but was never convicted.

DNA evidence was collected from that case using a sexual assault kit, but it was not entered into a national database as there was no mandate to do so at the time.

Details of sexual assaults in the Valley

Four years later, on July 7, 1998, a 17-year-old girl was kidnapped and sexually assaulted near 19th Avenue and Osbo

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