Portsmouth man charged in assault on woman, 87

PORTSMOUTH

A River Pointe resident was being held without bail Friday after police charged him with sexually assaulting an 87-year-old woman in her home last May.

Court records showed that Kindale Keith Moore, 21, also is charged with burglary and abduction in the incident in the River Pointe area.

Portsmouth police earlier this week had warned residents about four sexual assaults since May of women ages 65 to 87 in neighborhoods off West Norfolk Road, from Castle Heights to West Norfolk, including River Pointe in May. Investigators were considering "similarities" in the cases but had not definitively concluded they were linked, police had said.

Police on Friday wouldn't confirm that Moore's arrest was related to the multiple assaults; he was charged only in one instance.

Virginia Beach police said earlier this week they were investigating two similar assaults in that city.

According to court records, Moore is accused of entering the woman's home through a back door late the night of May 17 and abusing her. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 31.

"We are ecstatic if they got someone," said Patricia Edgerton, president of the civic league in Hunters Point, where one of the attacks occurred. "That is awesome."

Moore, a painter, also faces trial next month on a felony destruction of property charge. He's accused in that case of spraying red and blue paint on cars, signs, sidewalks, park benches, trash cans, a fence and a house window in River Pointe in September 2007, causing more than $5,000 in damage, according to court records.