New London — In what police Chief Peter Reichard called “the case of a career,” members of several different agencies worked together to quickly apprehend a man they said sexually assaulted two women in separate incidents this fall.

Thirty-four-year-old Monte Phillip White, a transient city man with a lengthy criminal record, is the accused. Police on Tuesday morning charged him on a warrant with three counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, two counts of home invasion and one count of risk of injury to a minor.

[naviga:img class="img-responsive" src="https://www.theday.com/Assets/news2015/monte-phillip-white.jpg" alt="Monte Phillip White"/]

Monte Phillip White

Police said they learned of the first crime Oct. 29, when officials at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital alerted them to a sexual assault. Officers responded to the hospital, where a female victim told them a man had entered her Hawthorne Drive home, threatened her with a firearm and sexually assaulted her.

A month later, police received another report of a sexual assault out of L+M. This time, it was a female who lived in a Nautilus Drive apartment complex detailing a strikingly similar crime: A man had entered her home and used a gun to keep her at bay before sexually assaulting her.

Both women described similar-looking men, police said.

In both cases, police obtained DNA samples for the state lab to process. Police also submitted latent prints collected from each crime scene.

In the meantime, New London, Waterford and Statewide Narcotics Task Force officers were investigating White for the alleged sale of narcotics in the region. On Nov. 30, police learned that fingerprint impressions placed White at each sexual assault crime scene. Because of that, the next day, they applied for and successfully obtained a warrant for his arrest on the drug-related charges.

Officers set up outside some of his last known addresses and, around noon that day, found him in the area of Jefferson Avenue, according to police.

Charged with three counts of sale of narcotics, White failed to post a $200,000 bond. While he was in custody, police said, the lab came back with a DNA hit for White in both sexual assault cases. That enabled police to obtain another warrant for his arrest, which is the one they served Tuesday.

He is being held on a $750,000 bond for his most recent charges.

According to police, White is facing three counts of sexual assault because in one of the cases, he allegedly stayed in the victim’s home for an extended period of time and assaulted her twice. DNA additionally has linked White to a sexual assault that occurred in Torrington in April, according to police. Police said they are working with Torrington officials on the case.

Unsure whether there are any other victims, police publicized the car White had been driving: a 2001 Mercedes CLK 430. Police said it was dark red for a long time but recently had been wrapped in black.

“Mr. White is dangerous and we want the public to know,” Reichard said during a news conference Tuesday, urging any other victims to come forward. “We don’t know where he may have been.”

Reichard commended the teamwork and speediness of the agencies involved in the effort.

“The way all of this came together, this is the case of a career,” he said.

l.boyle@theday.com