York County man pleads guilty to rape, kidnap of Winthrop student

A York County man admitted to the 2014 gunpoint kidnapping and rape of a Winthrop University student and faces up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty Thursday.

John T. Roddey Jr., 25, jailed without bond since the Oct. 31, 2014, assault on the woman walking outside the Margaret Nance dorm, simply said, “Guilty,” when asked by Circuit Court Judge John C. Hayes III about the allegation that he held the student against a wall and sexually assaulted her as she screamed for help.

Roddey was arrested moments later. A judge who denied his bond called the incident the “worst nightmare” any student and parent could imagine.

The victim did not speak in court. The Herald does not identify sexual assault victims.

Students who witnessed the assault from upstairs dorm room windows called 911 after hearing the victim’s screams.

Winthrop police arrested Roddey at the scene of the attack, and DNA taken from both the victim and Roddey confirmed that he was the attacker, prosecutors said.

Police and prosecutors said that the victim’s screams, heard through open windows on an unusually warm October night, might have saved her life. She was walking from another dorm to where she lived at about 2 a.m when she was attacked.

One student in an upstairs room saw a man pointing a gun at a woman, said Erin Joyner, 16th Circuit assistant solicitor. The witness heard the victim screaming, “Please don’t hurt me.” Police did not find a handgun in Roddey’s possession, but they did later find a BB gun.

Another witness saw the attacker take the victim behind the building and heard him scream at the victim to shut up.

“The witness saw him with his hands at the victim’s neck backing her into a corner,” Joyner said.

Roddey, who was not a student at the university and had no previous criminal record, initially denied being involved in the attack. He told officers he was walking from a bar to his car, which was parked on campus.

Judge Hayes will impose a sentence on Roddey on Jan. 11. His lawyer told Hayes that Roddey wanted to plead guilty before Christmas, so the victim would not have be worried during the holidays about having to testify at trial.

Winthrop Police Chief Frank Zebedis, who had said after the incident in November 2014 that the campus was safe and continued to be safe, said he would wait until after Roddey is sentenced before commenting on the case. Other Winthrop officials also declined comment pending the January sentencing.

Previous video from Roddey’s Oct. 31, 2014 bond hearing:

This story was originally published December 17, 2015 at 11:04 AM with the headline "York County man pleads guilty to rape, kidnap of Winthrop student."