Editor’s note: This story includes information about sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City man is now facing 20 felony charges, accused in multiple sexual assaults and robberies this summer.
Dairon Lee Riley has been charged with the following:
- Five counts of first-degree rape,
- Three counts of first-degree robbery,
- Three counts of unlawful use of a weapon,
- Two counts of armed criminal action,
- Three counts of fourth-degree assault,
- Two counts of first-degree kidnapping,
- And two counts of first-degree sodomy or attempted sodomy.
The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office said the alleged attacks happened in May and June this year against three women.
Two of the victims had sexual assault exams at local hospitals.
The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office said Riley is in custody at this time. KCPD spokesperson Alayna Gonzalez said he was arrested Thursday. He’s being held on a $500,000 bond.
May 17
Court documents say Kansas City police were called to 89th Terrace and Michigan Avenue on May 17 for an armed robbery.
A woman told police she was at an Independence motel when Riley picked her up. The woman said she was meeting with Riley to sell her iPhone.
She told detectives they went to 89th Terrace and Michigan Avenue. That’s where the woman said Riley pulled a knife on her, turned off the location data on her phone and took her money, phone and tazer.
Police identified Riley as a suspect in two other cases after that.
May 22
On May 23, police were called to a local hospital for a reported sexual assault. This woman said she met Riley the day before on May 22 on an escort dating serving, and he arranged to meet her at 89th Terrace and Michigan Avenue.
The woman told detectives Riley got into her car and told her to drive to a wooded area. Court documents say when she refused to give him her CashApp information, Riley punched the woman in the face.
Prosecutors say the man then restrained her and went through her purse and phone. The woman said Riley found the gun in her purse, and he also had a knife with him.
Court documents say he then raped the woman three times before leaving.
June 16
In a third case, police were called to a QuikTrip on June 17 for an alleged armed robbery. At the scene, a woman reported she had been sexually assaulted.
The woman said she came to town the day before on June 16 for a vacation with friends and met Riley on a dating app. She said while they were driving through town, Riley told her to pull into a dark, wooded area.
Court documents say he pulled a knife and gun on the woman, threatening to kill her. He then transferred money from her CashApp to his while pointing a gun at her head, prosecutors say.
The woman told detectives the man then raped her, drove to another location and then raped her again before leaving the area.
Other victims?
“Our detectives are really dedicated to this sensitive type of crime,” Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said emotionally during a news conference Friday. “We do feel and believe that there are possibly other victims out there.”
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker is also concerned their investigation may go farther with the possibility of more victims.
“We want to know what they know,” she said Friday. “We want reports of harm that they may know of that’s happened to them, to friends, to family members.”
A survivor who doesn’t feel like talking with a prosecutor can also talk to counselors at the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault, or MOCSA.
“While we work with law enforcement and the prosecutors at times if that’s what a survivor chooses, we are not part of the prosecutor’s office or law enforcement,” MOCSA President & CEO Julie Donelon said during the news conference.
MOCSA has a 24-hour hotline at 816-531-0233 to help survivors who don’t want to go to law enforcement. They also offer support online.
