Cedric Mason, 22, is facing eight counts of aggravated sexual assault, three counts of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, and two counts of aggravated kidnapping.
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Tiffany Larsen, chief of the Harris County District Attorney's Office Adult Sex Crimes Division, said Mason was accused of sexually assaulting six women and two men in separate incidents between August 2020 and September 2021 on Houston's north side. The victims range in age from 17 to late 30s, according to Larsen.
"I've been doing this over 13 years, and I can count on one hand the number of offenders like Cedric Mason that I've encountered," Larsen said. "When you find one, like I said, we jump into action very quickly."
Mason has been in jail since September 2021. The majority of his charges came after his arrest.
"We were set for trial on the first three cases when I took over this case and identified all of those additional (DNA) hits," Larsen said. "As soon as we saw those (DNA) hits, we jumped into action to file the extra charges, and of course, when we do that, it kind of restarts the clock in terms of making sure that the defense and the state have all of the information, evidence, to proceed to a trial."
Mason is accused of using either a gun, knife, or force in each of the incidents.
"Most of what Mr. Mason was doing like I said, I would call it terrorizing these individuals, producing a handgun, frequently threatening to kill them. We do have one incident where he fires that weapon," Larsen said.
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According to Larsen, Mason and his victim typically begin a friendly encounter before it escalates.
"One of the commonalities of these cases is that he was using a vehicle, usually preying upon the vulnerability of individuals who were either willing to accept a ride from Cedric Mason or willing to allow him into their vehicle," Larsen said.
In one of the cases, Larsen said Mason carjacked a man and woman. He is accused of stealing the man's phone and money and kicking him out of the car, leaving him alone in the car with the female victim. The woman was sexually assaulted at gunpoint, according to Larsen, and she got away. Law enforcement was able to stop Mason in the stolen car. From there, the case grew.
After his initial arrest, DNA evidence allowed law enforcement to link Mason to the other cases, whether that be SANE exams or the bite mark left behind on one of the male victims. At least one victim identified Mason through a photo lineup.
Larsen said she believes it would be very unlikely that they would have been able to connect the dots from one case to the next had it not been for DNA evidence.
"One of the commonalities in this case is that he is driving a similar vehicle in each, and of course, we got similar physical descriptions," Larsen said. "As we all know, with Houston having such a large population, we really can't charge people off of cars and physical descriptions. The DNA is critical."
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On Wednesday, Mason, who does not have a criminal history, was scheduled for a bond reduction hearing. It was reset to Jan. 12. His defense attorney, Arthur Washington, said they wanted to provide more time for him to receive a mental health evaluation.
Washington said his client denies the allegations against him.
"We're still learning," Washington said. "There's still some discovery that's outstanding, so we really don't want to comment on the evidence until we get that discovery back."
Mason's bond is set at $1.1 million.
Larsen said they are investigating two additional cases that may be linked back to Mason. She said there is a possibility there are additional victims.
"He is preying on vulnerable populations," Larsen said. "Usually, people who come from a troubled past or possibly would be intimidated to come forward, given the nature of the offense, especially because we know that the reporting rate of sexual assault usually hovers around 20%. Most of the time, the way we're identifying these cases is through that DNA, which is why we encourage all victims to not just report but to always go and get that important medical attention. Go get that SANE examination because when we do that evidence collection, we are oftentimes very successful in identifying the offenders and bringing them to justice."
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