Police said in April a match was found between DNA collected from Adan Lopez-Perez, a Mexican national who lived in Chandler in 1997, and the DNA collected from the two crime scenes that year.

PHOENIX -The Chandler Police Department says a DNA match found more than two decades after two women were sexually assaulted in 1997 led to an arrest in April.

According to police, 43-year-old Adan Lopez-Perez was arrested on April 8 for his alleged involvement in both sexual assaults.

Police say a 22-year-old woman was assaulted at Hoopes Park by a man in September 1997 and 10 days later an 18-year-old woman was assaulted inside her Chandler home.

DNA evidence was gathered from both scenes, Chandler PD said. But it wasn’t until five years later that that evidence was officially matched to the same person, which was a belief by the original investigators in 1997, according to police.

In April of 2019, the DNA was matched to Lopez-Perez, a Mexican national who lived in Chandler in 1997, police said.

According to police, Lopez-Perez was in federal custody on a charge of unlawful entry into the United States. He was required to provide a DNA sample, which allowed authorities to make the match.

Court documents show Lopez-Perez was extradited back to Maricopa County after he was released from prison where he was serving a federal sentence.

Chandler PD said Lopez-Perez was booked on five counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual abuse, three counts of aggravated assault, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of burglary.