Burlington man charged with robberies on D-N-A evidence

NEWPORT, Ky. A Burlington man has been charged by a federal grand jury with robbing three stores. The plea yesterday came just hours after he pleaded not guilty in state court to raping a store clerk during a robbery.

Forty-two-year-old David Hopper has been charged in five attacks over the last 14 years. Prosecutors say ten of them were committed by a blue-eyed rapist. D-N-A allegedly links Hopper to six of the attacks.

Hopper was being held on one (m) million dollars bond in the Campbell County jail. Federal officials say he could be taken into federal custody soon.

Hopper pleaded not guilty in Campbell Circuit Court to charges of rape and receiving stolen property. The charges stem from an attack at a Subway sandwich shop in Cold Spring and allegations that Hopper pawned jewelry taken from two women. The women were raped and robbed in a Warren County model home.