Three people arrested for kidnapping, raping Nashville tourists www.privateofficer.com

 

Nashville TN July 31 2011 Three people are in custody and Metro Police are working to identify a fourth in connection with the kidnapping and rape of four Lawrence County women after they left a downtown nightclub in the early morning hours of June 5.

Jesse L. Roberts, 23, of Claiborne Street, surrendered at police headquarters this morning after learning that he was wanted on arrest warrants charging him with four counts of aggravated kidnapping and one count of aggravated rape.
Two 17-year-olds have been arrested and charged in juvenile court with four counts of aggravated kidnapping, three counts of aggravated rape and one count of unlawful gun possession each.

One of the teens was arrested Tuesday and the other was arrested on July 19.

The Tennessean does not identify juvenile suspects unless they are charged in adult court. The paper also does not identify victims of sex crimes.

The District Attorney’s Office is requesting that the cases against the teens be transferred to adult court, police said.

According to the police account, the victims, one 29-year-old, one 28-year-old and two 19-year-olds, all related, met up with Roberts and the two teens as they walked on Second Avenue toward their car.

When the women got to the vehicle, the three men rushed the car and got in. The victims initially protested, but relented when the men said they would gas up the car if the victims would give them a ride home.

After the suspects purchased gas for the victims’ car at a market on Main Street, the 29-year-old drove the men to Roberts’ home at 89 Claiborne Street. When the victims tried to leave, two of the suspects pulled guns and ordered them inside the residence, where all four were raped over the course of a few hours, police said.

They were later allowed to leave, drove downtown and called police at 7 a.m. on June 5.

The victims told police a fourth man entered the Claiborne Street home once they were already there. Efforts are continuing to confirm that man’s identity, police said.

Anyone with information about the case or the fourth suspect is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 74-CRIME.