Convicted rapist accused of targeting bus riders in Boardman, Youngstown
A man who recently spent 20 years in prison for raping and kidnapping a 15-year-old girl, is back behind bars for allegedly targeting two new victims by preying on women who ride a bus to and from work.
A Boardman Police report details a teenage girl’s ordeal on the night she says she was abducted and raped after leaving work last month.
The report spells out the allegations that led to new felony rape and kidnapping charges against 48-year-old Mark Parker.
Police believe Parker is the man who confronted a teenage girl walking from work to catch a bus last month along Market Street not far from Akron Children’s Hospital.
The girl told police that the car’s driver had his hands in his pockets as if he had a gun and threatened to shoot her unless she got into his car.
She told officers the man drove the car toward Youngstown where he parked and forced her to engage in sex acts, threatening her if she reported it to the police.
The teen said the man then dropped her off at home where someone convinced her to report the crime to the police who identified Parker as the suspect.
Just last week, Parker faced a judge in Youngstown Municipal Court after a woman told YPD that a car was following the bus she was on from stop to stop.
When she got off the bus, the woman said Parker tried to force her into his car – but says she managed to get away.
Police tracked Parker down with the help of surveillance cameras.
Parker has only been out of prison for seven months after serving a more than 20-year sentence for the 2000 rape of a 15-year-old girl.
In that case, Police say Parker broke into a house through a basement window, cut off the power, and held the teen at gunpoint, telling her if she screamed or called the police, he'd kill her and the kids she'd been babysitting.
During Thursday's arraignment, Judge Joseph Houser sent Parker's case to a grand jury for review and ordered that he be held with no bond out of concern for the safety of the community.