Man indicted for rape pleads guilty to other charges, sentenced to 12 years in prison
Published 7:30 am Wednesday, September 25, 2019
DALTON, Ga. — A Dalton man indicted for rape after a woman told a deputy two men had raped her pleaded guilty to other charges and was sentenced to 12 years in prison without parole, according to District Attorney Bert Poston.
Richard Lawrence Forrest was indicted for rape, false imprisonment, terroristic threats, aggravated sodomy and criminal attempt to commit kidnapping. Forrest pleaded guilty in Superior Court Judge Scott Minter’s courtroom to aggravated sodomy, false imprisonment and terroristic threats. He was sentenced to 30 years total with 12 to serve in prison without parole and the remaining 18 years on probation for the aggravated sodomy guilty plea. He was sentenced to five years, to be served concurrently, for both the false imprisonment and terroristic threats guilty pleas.
The indictment for terroristic threats said the accused, in “terrorizing” the woman, did “threaten to commit a crime of violence, specifically murder …”
Forrest was represented by Andrew Powell of the Public Defender’s Office, who declined to comment.
According to a Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office incident report, a deputy was sent to Downing Street just east of Dalton at around 2:50 p.m. on March 31 following a report of a woman being sexually assaulted. When the deputy arrived, he was “flagged down” by the caller. The woman said she’d been visiting the Dalton area and was “spending time” with a woman when the woman took her to a trailer on Richardson Drive where two men raped her.
A detective interviewed the woman and she said her phone and the keys to her vehicle had been taken.
Four other people were also indicted.
• Amy Louise Marie Jones, of Dalton, for false imprisonment, terroristic threats, theft by taking and criminal attempt to commit kidnapping.
• Lindsey Janell Lowe, of Dalton, for false imprisonment, terroristic threats and criminal attempt to commit kidnapping.
• Richard Marvin Smith, of Dalton, for rape, false imprisonment, terroristic threats, theft by taking and criminal attempt to commit kidnapping.
Those three are scheduled to be in court for the Oct. 15 plea calendar.
• Marlon Bradford Burk, of Chatsworth, for false imprisonment, terroristic threats, theft by taking and criminal attempt to commit kidnapping.
Burk faces other charges and has not been arraigned on the charges associated with this case.