PORTLAND, Ore. — Genetic material recovered from a belt used to tie up a woman connected a former Butler County man to a sexual assault in Oregon last year, authorities said.

DNA tests only recently identified Jason Isaac Demby, 32, of Erie — and earlier of Karns City — as the man who allegedly bound and attacked a 27-year-old woman before pushing her out of his van in Portland nearly 10 months ago.

Demby is charged with kidnapping, sexual abuse and assault.

The charges were included in an arrest warrant issued July 12 by a Multnomah County judge.

A day earlier, Demby was stopped by Erie police after officers found him in a vehicle with marijuana and a 15-year-old girl. He was charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession and given two traffic tickets.

Police in Erie, after learning Demby was a suspect in the Oregon case, detained him long enough for prosecutors there to obtain a warrant for his arrest.

In turn, Erie police on July 12 charged him with being a fugitive from justice.

He remains in the Erie County Jail on $100,000 bail, while awaiting extradition to Oregon.

According to court documents filed by Portland police, the alleged victim had been drinking with a friend at a bar on Sept. 23. While there, they met a stranger, later identified as Demby.

The woman’s friend admitted they all smoked marijuana at the bar. The trio left together about 2:30 a.m. Sept. 24 after Demby offered them a ride home in his van, police said.

The suspect dropped off the victim’s friend, who was riding in the front seat But he sped away with the badly intoxicated woman still in the back seat, documents said.

Demby later tied the woman’s right wrist to the back of the van with a black cotton belt, and sexually assaulted her, police said. She told investigators that she repeatedly told the suspect, ”No.”

Eventually, the attacker pushed her out of the van in the northeast section of Portland and drove away with the woman’s cell phone and purse.

The woman, who was crying hysterically and missing a shoe, flagged down a jogger, documents said. She told the jogger that she had been raped.

The black belt was still tied to her right wrist. She had bruises over much of her body, police said.

She was taken to a hospital but a rape kit turned up no DNA evidence from her attacker.

A police detective, however, in January sent the belt to the state crime lab for testing. On June 18, investigators were notified that Demby’s DNA profile matched swabs taken from the belt.

Police Detective Jason Christensen, one of the investigating officers, would not comment about the case. He said that police have not spoken to Demby since his arrest in Erie and they did not know why he was in Oregon.

A relative, who lives in Meadville, Crawford County, said Demby suffers from mental health issues and described him as “socially inept.”

The relative, who requested anonymity, said the defendant’s biological mother gave him up for adoption when he was 7 or 8. He moved to Karns City to live with his adoptive parents.

He later served briefly in the Navy but has never held steady employment.

“He moved from job to job and didn’t stay with any of them for too long,” the relative said.

Demby moved to Erie about two years ago. He was living there with a half-sister. He has two other half-sisters and a half-brother, the relative said.