*DNA leads to charges in 2008 Winchester rape case

By Alex Bridges -- abridges@nvdaily.com

WINCHESTER -- DNA and other evidence in a 2008 rape case have led city police to a federal inmate held in North Carolina on drug charges, according to authorities.

A grand jury in Winchester Circuit Court indicted Joel Chaparro Tuesday for the rape of an adult female -- less than a month after a federal judge granted his release on bond in U.S. District Court in Martinsburg.

Judge John Wetsel Jr. issued a bench warrant for Chaparro's arrest on the charge.
A conviction of rape carries a term of five years to life in a state penitentiary.

Chaparro, 39, formerly of the Martinsburg area, is incarcerated in a U.S. correctional facility in Winton, N.C., serving a two-year, nine-month term for committing two counts of aiding and abetting in the distribution of cocaine hydrochloride in West Virginia in September 2007.

Authorities allege Chaparro raped a woman at an apartment complex on Franklin Street at approximately 11:45 p.m. on Feb. 29, 2008. Sgt. Frank Myrtle, of the Winchester Police Department, said Wednesday the alleged victim went to the hospital for treatment but suffered no other injuries. The alleged victim and Chaparro have a child together, according to Myrtle.

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