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Woman Crowdsources Capture of Her Sexual Attacker 2 Years After Assault

By Gwynne Hogan | March 25, 2015 7:48pm
 Elisa Lopez crowd sourced the capture of her sexual attacker.
Elisa Lopez crowd sourced the capture of her sexual attacker.
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Capture the Attacker/ Facebook

MANHATTAN — A woman who was sexually assaulted while sleeping on the subway in 2012 said she found a way to regain control by harnessing the power of the Internet to find her attacker.

Elisa Lopez's attacker was finally arrested, but only after she launched a crowdsourcing campaign across social media platforms to bring her attacker to light.

Carlos Chuva, 41, was caught on March 19 in front of his home in Queens, police said, and charged with first degree sexual assault for the October 2012 attack.

Beginning in January, Lopez, 23, a City College junior studying art and psychology, launched a Facebook event “Catch the Attacker.” Images of her assailant’s face swarmed Reddit and Twitter emblazoned with the logo #CatchtheAttacker.

Catch the Attacker
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Elisa Lopez

About two months later, a tipster reported the man to police, though the NYPD would not confirm whether or not #CatchtheAttacker helped to solve the case.

The arrest was the first breakthrough in Lopez's two year ordeal that started about 3 a.m. on Oct. 12, 2012 when she dozed off while riding a 4 train near 51st Street and 42nd Street.

Jasheem Smiley, 23, who was sitting across from Lopez during the attack, whipped out his cellphone and recorded as, police say, Chuva fondled Lopez underneath her skirt.

Lopez said she woke up in the middle of the assault, punched her attacker and ran off the train, according to reports.

The day after the attack, Smiley said he went to several police stations with the video but no one took him seriously. He decided to upload the video to YouTube with Lopez's face blocked out, so someone would take notice. The original video has since been removed.

Since then, the Internet had haunted Lopez with the recording of her attack, and the harrowing truth that people on the train did nothing to prevent her assault.

“Everyone was telling my story and not even really thinking about me,” Lopez said. “I would read the YouTube comments and it was just sickening.”

She could Google her own assault, she said.

With #CatchtheAttacker, Lopez harnessed the same power that she felt degraded her, this time for her own good.

While she was frustrated that police had failed to capture Chuva earlier, she admits, being responsible for his capture has been cathartic.

“In a way it helped me get back that control,” she said.

About a month before the crowdsourcing campaign, Lopez had come out with a Youtube video where she aired her side of the story.

Lopez said that she hopes her words and experiences can teach others how you should and should not react when someone you know tells you they've been sexually assaulted. Friends and family and coworkers in her life initially responded with insensitive questions and as a result Lopez tried to bottle up the truth about her attack.

“The first question shouldn’t be, ‘What were you wearing and how much were you drinking?’” she said.

Dietrich Epperson, the lawyer representing Chuva, declined to comment on the case. Epperson added that Chuva’s family had posted the $5,000 bail and Chuva was released. Chuva’s next court appearance is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

Lopez said despite #CatchtheAttacker’s success, the issues she deals with daily haven’t changed.

“Yes they caught him, yes I’m happy he’s going to be behind bars soon,” Lopez said. “But I’m still facing the same trauma.”