Police on St. Thomas arrested 53-year Lloyd S. Wilkinson Thursday and charged him with first-degree rape and first-degree assault in connection with an attack that took place in Frenchtown early Thursday.
According to police, the victim positively identified Wilkinson as the man who allegedly raped her.
At 7 a.m. Wednesday, the Schneider Regional Medical Center contacted police and reported a victim of rape was being treated. The victim told officers she had been walking on the roadway behind a local bar and restaurant in Frenchtown at roughly 5:40 a.m. when she was approached by a black man with dreadlocks, who asked to borrow a lighter. When the suspect returned the lighter he forcibly grabbed the victim in a chokehold, dragged her into the nearby bushes and raped her, according to the police report.
The suspect then ran off in the direction of the Oceana Restaurant, as the victim made her way toward the Frenchtown Fish Market in search of help.
Wilkinson declined to give a statement at the time of his arrest. Bail was set at $150,000 and the suspect was remanded to the Bureau of Corrections pending his advice of rights hearing.
