FOREST PARK, Ohio — A woman is in the hospital after being "violently attacked and raped" near a bus stop in Forest Park, police said.
On Saturday, 40-year-old German Mathews beat and raped a woman with developmental disabilities while she was waiting to catch the bus to work at the corner of Winton Road and Smiley Avenue, investigators said.
"This was nothing more than a brutal attack on a susceptible victim," Sgt. Jackie Dreyer with the Forest Park Police Department said in court Monday morning. Dreyer said the victim has bites to her breasts, a broken nose and brain swelling.
"She's not doing well in terms of the trauma that she's received," Dreyer said.
Sgt. Dreyer found Mathews on top of the victim.
Mathews allegedly threw the victim over a guardrail and into a nearby wooded area where he beat and raped her.
The prosecution called this a "vicious, unprovoked attack on a stranger."
According to court documents, this happened near a busy intersection with several businesses nearby, including a Speedway gas station. It was an employee of the gas station who called 911. WCPO talked with his manager today who said this wasn't the first act of violence to happen nearby recently.
"We did have a shooting a couple weeks — 3 or 4 weeks — ago, I guess in the parking lot," Valerie Mann said. "Prior to that, we didn't have anything so I'm hoping it just moved on."
Mann said overall, it's a good place to work where everyone looks out for each other. Especially after these incidents, they're doing whatever they can to help each other feel safe.
According to the judge, Mathews was charged with illegally entering the country through Texas in 2017. He has a Nicaraguan passport, investigators said.
Mathews' attorney said he has worked in an auto shop for more than a year and he currently lives in Forest Park. He is facing two rape charges, a felonious assault charge and a kidnapping charge.
The next court date is set for May 9.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story misidentified the suspect's last name.
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