Dereck Rivera-Deleon

Introduction

Dereck Rivera-Deleon is a 30-year-old from the Bronx who was arrested on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, while working at a Burger King in Miami Beach, Florida, and who police say is responsible for three rapes in New York’s Central Park spanning 2021 to 2026. Detectives with the NYPD assigned to the U.S. Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force, working with Miami Beach police, took him into custody at the fast-food restaurant on Washington Avenue, where he had been employed for less than two weeks. He was arrested on an extraditable warrant in the October 24, 2026 rape of a 39-year-old woman, and the NYPD says he faces charges in connection with two earlier Central Park rapes, in July 2021 and October 2023. The charges are accusations; he has not been convicted of anything and is presumed innocent.

Background Information

Miami Beach police described Rivera-Deleon as homeless and said they did not know why he had traveled to South Florida; investigators determined he had recently arrived in the region and obtained the Burger King job, and the restaurant sits directly across the street from the Miami Beach Police Department headquarters. The NYPD had been searching for the suspect since the late-October attack, releasing surveillance video of a man seen approaching the victim, and an arrest warrant was issued on Monday, November 9. The October attack was the fifth reported sexual assault in Central Park in 2026, according to NYPD records, a figure that drew attention in local coverage of the arrest.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Arrested and charged, not convicted. Rivera-Deleon was arrested on an extraditable warrant in the October 24, 2026 Central Park rape, and police say he faces charges in connection with the 2021 and 2023 cases as well. No conviction has been entered on any count, information on an attorney for him was not immediately available, and everything below comes from police statements, arrest records and the body-camera video police released — allegations he has not yet answered in court.

The most recent alleged attack happened around 8:30 p.m. on October 24, 2026, near East 66th Street and Fifth Avenue on Central Park’s eastern edge. Police say the 39-year-old victim told investigators a man approached her, threatened her with a knife and forced her into a wooded section of the park, where he raped her before fleeing on foot; she was hospitalized in stable condition. Authorities say Rivera-Deleon is also connected to rapes in the park in July 2021 and October 2023 — Miami Beach police spokesperson Christopher Bess said he was wanted in the October attack “and two other rapes committed in 2021 and 2023” — and that DNA evidence and positive identifications by the victims linked him to all three. Police said he did not know any of the alleged victims.

The arrest itself was captured on body-camera video released by Miami Beach police: officers drawing guns on Rivera-Deleon as he took a break outside the restaurant in his work uniform, ordering him to the ground — “On your face, now!” — while he repeatedly asked “what happened, man?” and questioned why officers were taking his backpack before he was patted down and led away.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Burger King confirmed the brief employment in a statement — “This individual worked for Burger King for less than two weeks and is no longer employed. We defer any further questions to local authorities” — making the termination the only employment consequence announced while the criminal process runs. The NYPD posted on X that “the NYPD will stop at nothing to get dangerous criminals off our streets,” and U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of New York Ricky J. Patel said, “When violent offenders flee to evade justice, we will ensure there is no corner of the country where they can hide.” Bess credited a swift joint investigation — “He was extremely violent. He was a fugitive out of New York. And luckily, due to the swift actions and great investigative skills of our detectives and our federal partners, we perhaps prevented another rape.” In New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani had previously described the October attack as a “horrific” act, and women interviewed near the park expressed relief at the arrest alongside questions about how the suspect had remained free after the two earlier alleged attacks. No public statement from Rivera-Deleon or an attorney for him was reported in the coverage reviewed for this page.

Current Status

Rivera-Deleon was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and, per CBS Miami, is being held at Miami-Dade’s main jail pending extradition to New York City; Fox News reported he is held without bond as extradition proceedings move forward. It was not immediately clear when he would be extradited to face the New York charges, no attorney was identified in early coverage, and law-enforcement officials told CBS News they are investigating whether he may be connected to additional sexual assaults in Miami and New York City. He remains presumed innocent on all counts.

Impact on Their Career/Life

A man who had spent roughly two weeks as an identifiably employed Burger King worker in Miami Beach is now a nationally covered fugitive-capture case, his booking photo and body-camera arrest video circulating across national outlets alongside the five-year timeline police laid out. The Burger King termination ended his only known employment of the period, and the case returned attention to the string of sexual assaults reported in Central Park in 2026 and to questions, raised by park visitors in coverage of the arrest, about how the earlier alleged attacks went unsolved for years. For the three alleged victims, the case moves next through extradition and New York criminal proceedings on charges that, per the NYPD, will now span all three alleged rapes.

Sources

“Moment Central Park rape suspect is busted while working at Miami Burger King — New York Post” source
“@nypost on X: Central Park serial rape suspect arrested while working in Miami Beach” source
“Man accused of raping three women in Central Park arrested on Miami Beach — NBC 6 South Florida” source
“Central Park rape suspect nabbed at his job in Miami, tied to other NYC attacks — NBC New York” source
“Man accused in 3 Central Park rapes arrested in Florida, NYPD says — Fox News” source
“Man accused in 3 New York City rapes arrested while working at Miami Beach Burger King, police say — CBS Miami” source