Defenseless Toledo ''mall employee raped twice in 4-hour ordeal''

An employee at a store at Westfield Shoppingtown Franklin Park was forced into her car at knifepoint by a man who raped her in her vehicle at a nearby apartment complex, drove her around for several hours, and sexually assaulted her again in South Toledo.


As the 41-year-old Toledo woman walked to her car in the parking lot at the West Toledo mall around 9:10 p.m. Monday, the man approached her and asked her several questions.

He pulled out a knife and forced her into her car, a white Chevrolet Lumina, Toledo police said.

The man drove the victim’s car from the lot to an apartment building parking lot near Sylvania Avenue and Talmadge Road and raped her. He drove to South Toledo to the area of Western Avenue and the Anthony Wayne Trail, then to the area of Spencer Street and South Avenue, where he used the telephone, police said.

The man then drove to a secluded area in the vicinity of City Park Avenue and the Trail, where he raped the victim again. About 1:30 a.m. yesterday, he got out of the car and fled.

The victim drove herself to police headquarters downtown to report the assault. She was treated at a local hospital, Capt. Ron Spann said.

The captain said the suspect and the victim engaged in conversation during the ordeal and that the suspect threatened to kill her with the knife.

"It’s an extremely violent crime that shocks the conscience of the community regardless of where it occurs," police Chief Mike Navarre said. "We’ll do everything we possibly can to apprehend this individual before he strikes again."

UPDATE: Toledo police held a news conference yesterday to announce that they have arrested a 17-year old juvenile in connection with this horrible crime.

After the news conference, Chief Navarre said police are still investigating two other recent rapes:

• On Oct. 5, a man grabbed a South Toledo woman from behind, dragged her to the rear of a Tiffany Square Drive apartment building, and raped her. The 20-year-old woman was on a front porch at the apartment building, which is off Hill Avenue between Wenz and Byrne roads, when she was grabbed.

• On Saturday, a man abducted a woman from outside a beauty supply store at Monroe Street and Auburn Avenue, sexually assaulted her, and put her into the trunk of her car. The 46-year-old West Toledo woman was locked in the trunk for at least 19 hours, police said.

"We suspected there were three different suspects, and we have been getting calls on the other [two rape cases] and are following up on each one. Those cases are not any less important," the chief said.

Commentary:
According to the FBI, 96% of raptists do not use firearms in the commission of their vulgarities. 1 in 4 women will be victims of assault in their lifetime. Yet Chief Mike Navarre and other Toledo officials continue support gun control and oppose concealed carry reform, thereby ensuring that when women are attacked in Toledo, they are defenseless and unable to do anything about it.

Click here to read the full story in the Toledo Blade.

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