In February, the brazen sexual assault of a 76-year-old woman at her senior living community sent shockwaves through Henry County, leaving older residents on edge and prompting several law enforcement agencies to team up in search of a suspect.
Just over seven months later, the man who broke into the woman’s apartment and raped her was sentenced to 25 years behind bars, prosecutors said.
Travale Farris, 29, pleaded guilty Thursday to a host of charges in connection with the Feb. 5 attack at the Heritage at McDonough Senior Living Complex, including rape, aggravated sexual battery and kidnapping, the Henry County District Attorney’s Office said. If he hadn’t pleaded guilty, Farris faced a maximum sentence of life without parole, plus an additional 100 years behind bars.
The sexual assault occurred when Farris, who lived less than a mile from the complex, entered the victim’s unlocked home, authorities said. During the subsequent search, police released surveillance video of a man going door to door at the complex off Bridges Road around the time the woman was assaulted.
He was shown in the video walking around the community checking to see if any doors were unlocked until he found one that was. Prosecutors said he also tried to enter three other units in the complex. Following the attack, police said Farris “casually walked out” of the victim’s apartment.
Credit: McDonough Police Department
Credit: McDonough Police Department
Henry County Sheriff Reginald Scandrett said the attack “sickened” him, and within weeks authorities had raised a $12,500 reward in the case. But it was ultimately DNA evidence that linked Farris to the rape, police said following his March arrest.
In Georgia, DNA samples are collected from most prison inmates within 30 days of their incarceration. Those samples are then stored in a national database run by the FBI, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections. While it doesn’t appear Farris has ever been convicted of a sexual assault in Georgia, records show he spent more than a year in Muscogee County Prison after being convicted of burglary and theft by taking in Douglas County. He was released in December 2017.
“We spared no time and we lost a lot of sleep, but we got what we believe to be the person in custody that is responsible for this,” Scandrett told reporters following the arrest.
He said those living in Henry could “sleep a little bit better,” especially older residents who were on heightened alert in the weeks after the attack.
Farris also pleaded guilty to one count each of false imprisonment, burglary, exploitation and intimidation of an elder person, and three counts of criminal attempt to commit a felony. In exchange for his plea, the McDonough man was sentenced to 25 years in prison and the rest of his life on probation.
“This was a horrific crime and we are grateful to bring justice for this survivor,” Henry County District Attorney Darius Pattillo said in a statement. “We wanted to ensure that Mr. Farris cannot harm any more of our county’s elderly population. Under this sentence, there is no possibility of parole and he must serve every day of that 25 years and continue to be supervised by officers for the rest of his life.”
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