Cleveland Serial Rapist Sentenced To 2 Decades In Prison

CLEVELAND — A serial rapist has been sentenced to two decades in prison, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Ronald Wheeler, 48, pleaded guilty to raping two women in Cleveland in December 2006 and March 2007. After pleading guilty, he was sentenced. Wheeler has also been convicted of four other rapes.

“This serial rapist, who has been convicted of raping six victims, will now rightfully die behind bars,” said Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley. “Although delayed, justice has been served for these victims.”

According to prosecutors, Wheeler approached an 18-year-old as she was walking down E. 105th on Dec. 18, 2006. He pulled out a gun, grabbed the woman and forced her to climb through an open window into an empty building.

Wheeler threatened to kill the woman and then sexually assaulted her multiple times at gunpoint, prosecutors said.

The woman was later found and taken to a nearby hospital and a sexual assault kit was collected.

Then, on March 19, 2007, Wheeler attacked a 23-year-old woman at a bus stop near Woodhill Road. The woman was holding her 5-month-old infant when Wheeler pulled out a gun and threatened to kill both the woman and her baby, prosecutors said.

According to court documents, Wheeler forced the woman into a vacant area, near train tracks, and sexually assaulted her multiple times, several times while holding the woman's child. He then stole money from the woman and ran off.

The woman was later found and taken to a hospital where a sexual assault kit was collected.

In 2013, the Sexual Assault Kit Task Force was formed to test previously unsubmitted rape kits, primarily from 1993 to 2011. Both of Wheelers' victims' kits were tested and the DNA matched Wheeler.

Wheeler later pleaded guilty to charges of rape and kidnapping. He was already serving prison time for four other rapes. He will not be eligible for release until 2075.