Vonzell Speight, 42, was arrested at a homeless shelter on Liberty Street about noon Friday. He faces charges of rape, kidnapping, robbery, burglary, communicating threats and assault.

A woman who lives in the 900 block of Dacian Avenue told police she awoke about 4:40 a.m. Thursday to find a man in her apartment. She was sexually assaulted and robbed at gunpoint, she told police.

Police announced Thursday evening that Speight was wanted in the attack. Officers J.K. Meade, C.W. Harris and J. Barazandeh spent Friday morning looking for Speight, Sgt. Dale Gunter said in e-mail to neighborhood message groups.

"Each place the officers went, they had just missed him by a bit," he wrote.

About noon, though, the officers got a call from one of those places.

"The 'lertwork' had been set in motion and we were told exactly where to find him by an alert citizen," Gunter continued.

Speight has multiple convictions for larceny, drug possession, breaking and entering, and trespassing dating back to 1989. He was released from prison in February after serving a year and five months for felony breaking and entering. He has been on and off probation since 1994 but is not now on probation, according to the state Department of Correction's online database.

"As always, be a 'lert' and keep calling," Gunter wrote in his e-mail message. "It's the only way to make a difference in our city."

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