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Suspect In East Coast Rapes Again Set To Plead

MANASSAS, Va. (AP) -- The suspect in a series of rapes and sexual assaults along the East Coast over the last 15 years is again scheduled to plead guilty.

A second plea hearing has been scheduled Nov. 30 in Prince William County for Aaron Thomas of New Haven, Conn.

Police say Thomas is linked by DNA evidence to at least 17 attacks on women in Virginia, Maryland, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Thomas was scheduled to plead last week to raping two teenage trick-or-treaters and abducting a third in 2009. But Thomas backed out of the plea at the last minute.

Prince William prosecutor Paul Ebert has said the plea deal would expose Thomas to a possible life sentence.

Thomas is also scheduled to enter a plea Nov. 30 for a 2001 rape in Leesburg.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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