Officers arrested a man after a report of a horrific sexual assault against his girlfriend.
A text came into 9-1-1 around 3 am asking for help and telling officers not to knock on the door as they might agitate her assailant. Lawrence County Officers were careful to park away from the building and not alert the suspect. Officers found the door unlocked, the woman hiding in the bathroom, and the suspect asleep when they arrived.
Officers woke up Joseph R Sherman, placed him in cuffs, and got details of the terrifying ordeal from the victim.
They noted she had a black eye, bruises on her face, and finger marks. She told them the man had punched her and choked her.
The woman said that after she arrived at Sherman’s apartment, he’d started hitting her and forced her to take off her clothes. He pulled a knife, demanded she transfer her money to him, and call and quit her job. He then sexually assaulted her with the knife and threatened to kill her family.
Officers sent the victim to the hospital for an examination and waited with her while a relative came to pick her up.
Deputies noted that Sherman had prior domestic violence convictions. Officers charged him with domestic violence, strangulation, aggravated robbery, felonious assault, and rape.
