Man given life sentence after pleading guilty to raping 4 women in their North Texas homes
A 51-year-old man was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to four home invasion sexual assaults in four North Texas counties, including Tarrant County. Three of the victims were alumna of the same sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, authorities said.
DNA testing helped link Jeffery Lemor Wheat to the four assaults in Arlington, Plano, Coppell and Shady Shores, according to a news release from the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office.
Assistant Tarrant County District Attorney Stephanie Simpson said they’re grateful for all the agencies that worked together to get justice for the rape victims.
“Their hard work also ensures the safety of all women in our community moving forward,” Simpson said in the release.
Wheat’s arrest and conviction resulted from a years-long investigation by law enforcement officers and prosecutors including those with the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, according to the release. He was arrested in Crawford County, Arkansas, in 2021.
Wheat was working as a long-haul truck driver in Mississippi when he was arrested, according to a release from Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis. But Wheat lived in the Dallas-Fort Worth area during the time periods of all four of the crimes, Willis said.
In the first case, in September 2003, an Arlington woman told police that a man entered her home in the early hours of the morning and climbed on her bed. He was nude except for a white shirt over his face and socks on his hands and feet, according to Wheat’s arrest warrant affidavit.
Due to DNA testing limitations, police didn’t get any leads from examining socks the assailant left behind or a swab from the area where the Arlington woman said he kissed her. The case was suspended.
Years later, the evidence was resubmitted to a crime lab, and investigators discovered the DNA matched three other North Texas sexual assault cases which occurred between April and October in 2011.
An investigation by Plano police revealed that each of the 2011 victims was a past member of Delta Sigma Theta and that the sorority had used a credit card processing company that employed Wheat. That work would have given him access to personal identifying information, according to the Collin County District Attorney’s Office. Because of this connection, Wheat was dubbed the “Sorority Rapist” by police agencies and the media in the early stages of investigation.
Three of the survivors attended the sentencing hearing in court during which they confronted their attacker, gave victim impact statements and “described the trauma they endured,” Willis said.
“This maximum sentence would not have been possible without the bravery of these four survivors, as well as the above and beyond cooperation and coordination of Plano, Coppell, Corinth, and Arlington police, and the Collin, Dallas, Denton, and Tarrant county district attorney offices,” Willis said after the sentencing. “This was the first Collin County offender identified using the same forensic DNA technology that solved the Golden State Killer case. We’re grateful for Plano Police Department’s decade-long dedication to cracking this case, and ultimately three other cases.”
The suspect was also featured by the FBI on an “America’s Most Wanted” episode.
This story was originally published February 27, 2024 at 12:26 PM.
