"Blue Eyed Rapist" sentenced to 70 more years in prison - currently serving over 200 years total

David Hopper, 44, the "Blue Eyed Rapist" suspected in an many as 9 attacks on Cincinnati area women between 1992 and 2006, was sentenced to 40 more years in prison by Judge James Flannery. The Burlington, OH man was offered numerous plea deals on the pending charges, including deals to life sentences, which he turned down. He finally accepted a plea deal to a dozen counts regarding the latest victims for 40 years in prison. The victims in this case were raped at a model home showing in 2006.

"Forty years in prison will either cause you to die in prison, or you will be so old you will be harmless at that time you are released. I think society will be adequately protected."

The February 2006 attack on the two model-home attendants in a subdivision near Springboro led to Hopper's arrest in nine attacks since 1992 in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana.

He pawned two rings he took from one of the women at a Northern Kentucky pawnshop. Hopper was videotaped on security camera. He gave his name, address and Social Security number.
Police charged him in nine attacks on women, many of them store clerks working alone. DNA evidence linked the attacks to Hopper in five cases, authorities said.

That woman decided at Hopper's sentencing that she didn't want to be known as his victim anymore.

"After today, I want to be referred to as the woman who brought the blue-eyed rapist to justice. He has taken enough from me. I was just doing my job that day, and since then, my life has been turned upside down."

In the Warren County attack, prosecutors said Hopper walked into the model home in the Greycliff subdivision with a silver-colored handgun and demanded the women's purses and jewelry.

He forced them into the basement, removed their clothing, sexually assaulted one of them and made the women have sex. He bound and gagged them and barricaded them in the basement, leaving with their clothes and an ATM card.

They squeezed through a basement window and ran naked to a neighbor's house for help.


Prosecutor Rachel Hutzel said about the attacks that "This is about as horrible a crime as you can commit without murdering somebody." His latest 40 year sentence will be added to a 34 year sentence for federal gun charges and state charges related to his Kentucky attacks. The first 32 years of his sentence will be spent at the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, KY (FMC Lexington). Hopper faces more charges in Ohio and Indiana.

(Update 1-27-10) A week ago, on January 19, Hopper was sentenced by Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Pat Sheeran to serve another 23 years in the rape of a suburban Cincinnati GNC clerk which occurred on November 28, 2003. The victim, who attended his sentencing January 19, 2010, said that "I'm the one who has control now. I'm the one with all the freedom while you sit in jail."

Ohio prison sentences are served without chance of parole, and Hopper faces additional trials in Hamilton County, OH and Indiana.

(Update 1-17-11) Last month on December 14, 2010, Hopper was sentenced to 70 additional years imprisonment for the rape of a woman at a shoe store in 2004. The rape occured in Aurora, IN , and Hopper's guilty plea and sentence were handed down in Dearborn County (IN), with Judge James Humphrey presiding. Hopper's official charges he plead guilty to were criminal deviate conduct with a deadly weapon, robbery with a deadly weapon, and criminal confinement with a deadly weapon.

The criminal deviate conduct with a deadly weapon netted Hopper 50 years, and the robbery and criminal confinement counts added 20 more years to Hopper's sentence.

Louisville ex-EMT sentenced to a dozen years in wife's death

A former Louisville paramedic was sentenced to 12 years in prison Monday, February 22 for the overdose death of his wife. 26 year old Michael A. Whitehead pled guilty to reckless homicide, practicing medicine without a license, two counts of theft by unlawfully taking more than $300, and theft of a legend drug. in exchange for prosecutors dropping murder and wanton endangerment charges.

Whitehead was accused of stealing medication from his employer, Yellow Ambulance, and giving it to his wife, 24-year-old Ashley Shanahan Whitehead. She died March 26, 2009 after being in and out of hospitals, according to family members. He was indicted in Jefferson County, KY in September, and Indiana State Police arrested him just across the border in Jeffersonville.

Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Tom Van De Rostyne said about Whitehead, "He engaged in intentional acts, giving his wife IVs that contained a mixture of drugs he had stolen from his employers. By doing that repeatedly, it was only a matter of time before she either became seriously ill or died.”

Van De Rostyne said medical experts told him that many of the side effects of Ashley’s supposed illness may have actually been caused by the drugs she was being given by her husband. She eventually overdosed on hydrocodone.

The medical examiner found 37 needle holes in her body and pill filler in her lungs. Van De Rostyne said that the pill filler, which is meant to pass through the digestion system but can go into the lungs if too many pills are taken, is sometimes fatal.

The victim’s father also testified in court that he feared for the safety of Whitehead’s young child who still lives in Indiana if Whitehead was released.

Major argued before Jefferson County, Ky., Circuit Court Judge Irv Maze that Whitehead should serve his sentence on probation, but the judge denied that request. Major said he plans to argue for shock probation, a law in Kentucky which allows a judge to release someone from prison if it is found that the crime was so traumatic that the offender was scared straight.

Whitehead's attorney Don Major said that "The amendment to reckless homicide from murder by definition means it was not an intentional act. I believe the evidence shows he was actually trying to help her but that it went terribly awry.”

Iraq veteran sentenced to 20 to life in rape, murder of mother of 3

A former Army reservist was sentenced to 20 years to life for the rape and murder of a co worker. The sentence against Jeremy Shields, 28, came on June 17, after a plea deal of guilty to rape, murder, and tampering with physical evidence. Though the judge said that the sentence was acceptable, Wendy Sue Logsdon's brother had to be restrained by bailliffs.

Logsdon, a mother of three, disappeared after she was supposed to meet Shields at a Louisville bar in January 2008. Her half-burned body was found two days later in rural Hart County. Police said Shields and Logsdon worked at the Zappo's warehouse in Bullitt County and that Shields met the Louisville woman for a date, killed her in Radcliff and dumped her body in Hart County.

According to police, Shields drugged Logsdon with GHB, a "date rape" drug, killed and raped her, and hid her body for two days in his parents house.The body was found four days later, half burned, duct taped, on a road in Hart County.

They were both hired at the shoe distribution warehouse in December 2007.

According to published reports, doctors diagnosed Shields with chronic post-traumatic stress disorder. He was found competent to stand trial last August.

Shields' father, Lunisi Mau, stated that the disorder stemmed from his role at a tuck driver early in the Iraqi occupation.

Victim impact statements were heard from Logsdon's aunt, mother, and son. Toni Christy, the aunt, said that "She had children. She was a niece. She was a granddaughter. She was a child. She was a mother. She wasn't just something, she was a human being and you had no right to take that life."

Logsdon's mother, Teresa Logsdon, stated that "My life will never be the same again, and it's not just because she died -- it's how she died. What you have done to her has devastated me. I hate you. I hate you."

Seventeen year old Trey McIntosh described the impact of losing his mother. "I moved in with my father and stuff which didn't work out so well. My life's pretty much never going to be the same because of what he did."

Berea, KY man sentenced to 31 years in prison for rape, attack on estranged wife

On May 28, Jessie Brian Conner, 29, of Berea, KY, was sentenced to 31 years in prison for the rape and assault on his then estranged wife. After the verdict, police officers and detectives ejected Conner from the courtroom after he said "I hope you're happy" to the prosecutors and victim.

The rape occured last October 30, after the victim got off of work and took their daughter to kindergarten. Conner was hiding in the victim's home and suprised her in a closet. The perp listened as the victim called her brother, then his roommate. He checked the cell phone numbers, convinced that she was having sex with other men. Then the violence began.

He hit her behind the left ear and batted her head with his hands as if it were a basketball, she said, and then hit her with the butt of a .22 caliber rifle he had brought to the house.“He hit me on the head until the gun broke,” she said.When the stock separated from the rifle, she said he yelled, “You stupid bitch, you made me break my fucking gun on your fucking head.”

After the physical assault, Conner had his victim take off her clothes, when he raped her vaginally and anally. He also thretened a murder-suicide if she screamed, saying “One shot and you’re dead. Two shots and I’m dead.”

Then Conner fired bullets past his victim which landed in their daughter's bedroom, bulletts which passed through a pillow before lodging in the wall. After he did this, he tied the victim up to their daughter's bed, where he raped her again. “He said he was going to tie me up, so he could get away.”

Under questioning by [defense attorney Eric] Ashley, Conner’s ex-wife said their earlier sex life had included anal intercourse but never bondage.The blows to her head caused severe pain, dizziness and nausea, she testified.

“I was still screaming, begging him to leave,” she said. “He threatened to tape my mouth with duct tape so I couldn’t scream.” In response to her pleas, she said Conner eventually allowed her to leave and seek medical attention, but she had to promise to tell emergency-room personnel her injuries were caused by a fall in the shower.

“I had to get my hair wet before he would let me leave,” she said. Conner forced her to drive him to his truck which was hidden behind a Glades Road convenience store, she said.

Instead of driving immediately to the hospital, she said she drove to her brother’s home to ask him to take her to the hospital and then to get her daughter. She said she feared Conner, who had destroyed her cell phone, would retrieve their daughter from school.She was examined at St. Joseph Hospital-Berea, which summoned Berea Police.

Jury deliberations took over 2 1/2 hours. Recommended sentences were 20 years each for the rape and sodomy charges, 10 years for burglary, and 5 years for assault. The verdict form handed to Circuit Judge William G. Clouse stated that the total sentence would be 31 years. Conner was previously convicted of misdemeanor theft, DUI, and and a federal conviction for conspiracy to possess oxycodone with the intent to distribute.

The verdict came after an emotional morning during which Ashley called several members of Conner’s family, including his mother, to testify.Conner’s mother was at times choked by tears as she described how Conner, her only son, had suffered from drug addiction in the years following his father’s death, and pleaded with the jury to show mercy toward her son.


In his closing statement, Ashley had asked the jury for the minimum sentence, focusing on Conner’s young children and the effect a long sentence would have on his relationship with them.“You’ve heard some emotional testimony today about what Jessie Brian Conner means to his family,” Ashley said.

Judge Clouse has to decide which parts of the sentences will be served concurrently and consecutively to arrive at 31 years. Conner must serve 85% of the rape and sodomy charges and 20% of the assault and burglary charges before parole eligibility.

Louisville, KY man charged with rape of woman under viaduct

A Louisville, KY man was charged with raping a woman who had just left a bar underneath a viaduct. The assault allegedly occured on a mattress after the victim was punched in the face, cauing her to black out. David Jackson faced rape and wanton endangerment charges for the assault, and separate charges of posession of drug paraphenelia and burglar's tools.

Jackson was identified in a line-up by the victim, according to arrest citation.
Jackson was in custody at Louisville Metro Corrections last night. (Wednesday) He is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 3. The jail did not have a record of an attorney for Jackson.

Rape can be a class A or B felony depending on circumstances. If the victim is under 12 or their is serious injury, rape is a Class A felony carrying at least 20 years. If none of the above circumstances are present, rape in Kentucky is a Class B felony carrying 10 to 20 years.

Band director faces misdemeanor only for relationship with 16 year old student

The band director of Marshall County High School in Benton has pleaded not guilty to charges that he encouraged a teenage girl to disobey her parents. The charge of unlawful transaction with a minor is a misdemeanor, but state police say it stems from what investigators believe was a sexual relationship between Michael Colvett and the 16-year-old student. Colvett entered a not guilty plea through his attorney.

The Marshall County prosecutor has previously said consensual sex between a teacher and a student at least 16 years old is not a crime in Kentucky, but encouraging the girl to disobey her parents is. A pretrial conference on the misdemeanor charge is scheduled for Dec. 14.

Reference:

Prosecutor: Teacher studnt sex not illegal

NC city official charge with rape after concert

A Lumberton (NC) city councilman was arrested and charged with 1st degree rape after a concert in a Louisville, Ky suburb.

The 18 year old woman was allegedly raped early Saturday morning at a Marriott hotel in Jeffersontown, KY by John Cantey, Jr. She reported the rape at about 6:30 AM. Investigators arrested Cantey after the alleged victim implicated him. They were traveling with the rapper Juvenile, who performed at a concert in Frankfort Friday. He’s the CEO of J.C. Houseman Production Agency.

Lumberton city officials declined comment, but referred questions to City Attorney Robert Price. Cantey was elected as a write-in candidate to Precinct 5 back in 2005. His term is supposed to expire in 2009, but according to North Carolina law, elected officials retain their seats until and unless convicted of a felony, at which time the official is automatically removed from office. Cantey has a misdemeanor conviction for fraud by receiving unemployment benefits while working as a salesman. His sentence was 18 months of unsupervised probation.

Annie Sherman, a neighbor, was shocked to hear about Cantey's charges. "I just can't see it. Some people yes, but not him. I'd trust my children with him," she said.

Cantey is currently being held on $100,000 bond by the Louisville Metro Department Of Corrections.

Lumberton Councilman Charged With Kentucky Rape