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DNA on Baskin-Robbins Spoon Links Man to 1997 Sex Assaults in Bay Area

A Baskin-Robbins ice cream sundae is seen in a file photo. (Credit: Robin Marchant/Getty Images for Baskin-Robbins)

Twenty-two years after two women were sexually assaulted in Alameda County, officials have identified a suspect in the cases using DNA evidence collected from a Baskin-Robbins spoon.

Alameda County District Atty. Nancy O’Malley announced this week that multiple felony sexual assault charges had been filed against Gregory Paul Vien, 60, of Livermore, Calif.

“For over 20 years, the survivors of these sexual assaults have lived with the constant uncertainty that comes with not knowing when, if ever, their assailant will be identified and brought to justice,” O’Malley said. “The police agencies never gave up, nor let these investigations go cold.”

On May 6, 1997, a man dragged a woman into a secluded area as she walked to a BART station in Union City, Calif., and sexually assaulted her, police said. Four months later, on Sept. 7, officials said the same person assaulted a second woman while she was walking near Livermore High School in Livermore, Calif. DNA samples collected in both cases matched each other, but law enforcement was unable to identify a suspect at the time.

Read the full story on LATimes.com

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