ST. LOUIS – One man is behind bars after reports of attempted rape at two St. Louis Metrolink stations earlier this month.
Dartarius Gibson, 37, is charged with three felonies in the investigation, including two counts of rape/attempted rape and one count of sodomy/attempted sodomy.
According to court documents obtained by FOX 2, the reported incidents date back to April 18 and 19. Gibson reportedly targeted women at two underground Metrolink stations; the one on North Sixth Street for the Convention Center and another one nearby at Eight and Pine Streets.
Court documents state that Gibson asked women for directions at two different stations before he briefly turned away and exposed his genitals. Gibson reportedly made contact with both women as they attempted to run away.
One victim was able to fight and get away, while Gibson reportedly ran away after the other victim started screaming. Both reported instances were caught on surveillance video and police arrested Gibson last Wednesday, per court documents.
Gibson is jailed in St. Louis City without bond. His next court appearance over his charges is set for May 26, per Missouri court records. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the reports of attempted rape.
Metro Transit released this statement tied to the investigation to FOX 2:
“At the request of our customers, our partners, and the public, we are in the process of enhancing all aspects of our security platform through the Secure Platform Plan, which includes gating and fencing the MetroLink system at the platforms, and includes other assets including upgrading our video surveillance system, In fact, the cameras in our newly established Real Time Camera Center were instrumental in locating the suspect and that lead to his arrest Wednesday afternoon by our partners at the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. We appreciate their partnership and coordination to apprehend the suspect without incident. All other questions about these specific crimes should be directed to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
We will continue to improve all the capabilities of our security system components as part of the Secure Platform Plan, which will increase the safety and security of riders on the MetroLink system. However, we cannot have security on every MetroLink platform or on every train or guarantee there will not be any incidents on our transit system. That is not realistic since we are not immune to the crime occurring in the neighborhoods we serve and those incidents do spill over onto our system. What we can guarantee is that we will have a rigorous collaboration with our police partners and will always provide a professional response to gain the confidence of the transit riding public. We are disappointed when things happen on our transit system and in our city, and we are committed to the fundamentals of our security approach, which are partnerships, infrastructure investment, and a gated access system.”