Defendant Gets Life Sentence for Sexual Offenses

Lavelle McNutt, 53, pleaded guilty Thursday to a series of attacks and sexual offenses against women and was sentenced to life in prison, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard's office said.

The 16 counts involving four incidents included two cases in Buckhead, the district attorney's office said. 

Lavalle pleaded guilty to charges of rape, aggravated sexual battery (two counts), battery, aggravated assault, burglary (two counts), false imprisonment, criminal attempt to commit kidnapping, entering automobile (two counts), theft by taking (two counts), stalking, peeping Tom and possession of a knife during the commission of a felony.

The district attorney's office released further details of the cases, which involved four victims. Here are the announcements' summaries of the incidents from the announcement:

April 27, 2007: Sandy Springs police respond to a Riverside Drive home where a distraught female victim reports that shortly after she arrived home, a man grabbed her from behind and held a knife to her throat. He then bound her hands and covered her mouth and eyes with duct tape before raping her. The investigation revealed video evidence of McNutt following the victim at a nearby mall where she had shopped prior to coming home. McNutt was arrested in November 2010 after several rounds of scientific testing led to a positive DNA match.

Feb. 2, 2009: A female shopper trying on clothes in the dressing room of the Lenox Square Macy’s Department store spots a man watching her disrobe. The victim notified mall security. The suspect, later identified as McNutt, flees the area.

March 12, 2009: A female resident is attacked while leaving her Canterbury Road apartment in Buckhead. As she neared the bottom of the stairway, a man wearing a hooded black shirt grabbed her from behind, covered her mouth with his hand and began dragging her away. The woman was able to break free and run for help. The man sped away in a Buick Riviera. McNutt was identified after surveillance video of the car entering and exiting the complex aired on the local news and led to tips to police from the public. Dark gloves and a black skull cap belonging to McNutt were later recovered from the car.

Later that day, a woman reported to police she witnessed a man watching her as she parked her car then walked her dog in Piedmont Park. She returned to find her purse and apartment keycard stolen. The next day, she realized she was missing one of her undergarments which was later discovered hanging from a tree in her complex. McNutt was arrested the next day in connection with the Macy’s peeping Tom case.

Photographic lineups and DNA linked McNutt to all four crimes. McNutt has an extensive criminal history which consists of felony convictions for aggravated sodomy, aggravated assault and peeping Tom.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams presided over plea proceedings.

The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorneys Raquel Stokes and Daysha Young of the Crimes Against Women and Children Unit with assistance from DA investigator Michael Green. Detective D. Romero of the Sandy Springs Police Department led the initial investigation.