DEARBORN -- Police last week arrested a man suspected in nearly 35 home invasions, some that included sexual assaults or attempted sexual assaults.

The cases are up to five years old.

Dearborn police said they "observed a possible pattern" connecting home invasions and assaults near the Dearborn-Allen Park border in July 2015.

DNA collected in rape kits and other forensic evidence tested by state police linked the suspect in numerous cases, Dearborn police said.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's office last week charged Ikeie Ranordo Smith, 32, of Redford Township with first-degree home invasion, three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and a count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct for incidents allegedly committed in Garden City.

Worthy said Smith is charged in connection with another case in Redford and that she expects "many more."

"In the city of Dearborn, we have concluded three cases are connected to this individual," Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad said Monday.

He said the 30-plus remaining cases were committed in nearby communities and more charges are forthcoming.

"There is no more power he holds over the people and I can assure you he will be in jail for a long time," Haddad said.

He declined to say how many of the cases involved sexual assault.

Livonia police obtained surveillance footage of a suspicious man walking through a resident's yard in August and presented it to a mullti-jurisdictional task force focused on serial home invasion and assaults.

The video led law enforcement to Smith.

Police arrested Smith on Wednesday and he admitted responsibility for several of the cases under investigation, Dearborn police said.

Law enforcement hasn't released an image of the suspect, stating it could impact other open investigations involving the same suspect.

"We don't want to taint any future identification that could go on with these cases," Haddad said.

Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad held a press conference at Dearborn's Ford Community and Performing Arts Center Monday to discuss Smith's arrest and other "high-profile" theft and larceny cases in Dearborn.

Haddad called the Smith case particularly "egregious."

Dearborn Mayor John B. O'Reilly, Jr., State Police Lt. Michael Shaw and Worthy were in attendance.

Worthy declined to comment on the status of two open investigations into killings by Dearborn police.

Janet Wilson, 31, who suffered from mental illness and might have been off her medication, according to relatives, attempted to flee police following a disturbance she caused at Fairlane Town Center Mall.

Cpl. James Wade shot the unarmed woman several times while trying to make a traffic stop in Dearborn about 4 p.m. Jan. 27. Police and witnesses said Wilson disobeyed orders to stop her SUV and drove in the direction of officers before Wade opened fire.

Kevin Matthews, 35, of Detroit, who was also unarmed and believed to have suffered from mental illness, died Dec. 23, 2015 after police shot him multiple times. Investigators said Matthews, who was on foot, disobeyed an officer's orders to stop and engaged in a physical struggle with the officer.

Worthy said she doesn't know when there might be a ruling in the cases but hopes it will be "sooner than later" and called both investigations very "deliberate."