Aaron Thomas, accused of raping 17 women along the East Coast, is now in the custody of Prince William County Police in Manassas.

Continue reading

A Connecticut judge on Monday agreed to send Thomas to Virginia

Thomas was arrested in March in his hometown of New Haven, where he pleaded not guilty in March to a charge of raping a woman in 2007.

Authorities say DNA confirmed that he is responsible for rapes and other attacks on more than a dozen women from Virginia to Connecticut over the span of a decade.

Virginia prosecutors petitioned to have Thomas face trial first in their state, and Connecticut officials agreed to the extradition request.

If he's convicted, Thomas faces numerous life sentences in Virginia, compared with about 50 years in Connecticut. Authorities say he's been linked to six attacks in Virginia, including charges he sexually assaulted two trick-or-treaters at gunpoint.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.