57-Year-Old Registered Sex Offender Melvin Cuffee Arrested in 1996 Rape

Norfolk authorities have taken 57-year-old registered sex offender Melvin Cuffee into custody on six charges tied to a sexual assault that left a student injured near Norfolk State University in 1996. Records indicate the arrest was made in September 2025, though the case was publicly reported in early February 2026. Cuffee is being held in the Norfolk Jail.

The assault occurred on February 12, 1996, when the victim was walking to Norfolk State University from a friend’s house. According to a search warrant filed in the investigation, the attacker put his arm around the victim’s throat in a way that implied he had a gun, forced her into a parking lot, and raped her. The warrant states the suspect then forced the victim to write down her personal information and threatened to hurt her if she reported the assault, before sexually assaulting her again. After returning to Norfolk State University the victim called her sister and then went to a hospital, where a rape kit was completed.

An arrest was made in 1996 in connection with the case, but that person was later exonerated by DNA evidence the same year. The case remained cold until July 2022, when the original rape kit was retested as part of the Virginia Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI). New DNA testing stemming from that retesting ultimately produced evidence that led investigators to Cuffee.

Investigators have charged Cuffee with six counts related to the decades-old assault. He is a registered sex offender, and Norfolk police say the arrest grew from DNA results tied to the retested evidence. The procedural arc for this case - initial evidence collection in 1996, an early wrongful arrest and exoneration, a focused retest of the kit in 2022, and a later arrest in 2025 - underscores both the limits and the long reach of forensic work.

For the community, the case is a reminder that cold-case files and retained rape kits can yield new leads many years after an assault, and that survivor reporting, hospital examinations, and proper evidence preservation matter. The arrest may also prompt Norfolk State University and nearby neighborhoods to revisit safety measures for students walking to class, and to remind residents how to access local law enforcement and victim services.

Cuffee’s case will proceed through Norfolk courts. For survivors and neighbors, the outcome will offer a practical test of how SAKI-driven retesting, prosecution, and community safety measures translate into accountability and prevention going forward.