Registered SC sex offender from Rock Hill charged in York County rape, kidnap
A South Carolina registered sex offender has been charged in connection with a York County rape and kidnapping, according to officials and court documents.
Jerome Levert Walker, 32, of Rock Hill, was arrested Saturday by detectives after the incident near Rock Hill, according to Trent Faris, spokesman for the York County Sheriff’s Office. Walker is charged with kidnapping and first-degree criminal sexual conduct, records show.
Walker allegedly held a woman against her will and sexually assaulted her, according to arrest warrants obtained by The Herald.
Walker allegedly promised the victim food and shelter, the warrants state. Walker threatened to harm the woman, the warrants state.
The woman was taken to Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill for treatment, a sheriff’s office incident report stated.
The Herald does not identify victims of alleged sexual crimes.
Kidnapping and first-degree criminal sexual conduct each carry up to 30 years in prison for a conviction, South Carolina law shows.
Walker remains in the York County jail without bond on the current kidnapping and sexual assault charges.
A registered sex offender
Walker is a registered sex offender from previous convictions and was on federal supervised release at the time of his arrest, according to Faris, the S.C. Sex Offender Registry, and State Law Enforcement Division records.
Walker, previously of Columbia, has convictions in U.S. District Court and state court in Richland County from 2013 crimes, according to federal prosecutors, deputies, and state and federal court records.
He was sentenced to seven years in federal prison in 2015, records show.
Walker pleaded guilty in 2015 in state court to criminal sexual conduct with a minor, and pleaded guilty in 2015 to conspiracy to sex traffic a minor in federal court, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Derek Shoemake and South Carolina court records.
The state and federal sentences from the 2015 convictions ran at the same time, records show.
Walker was released from federal prison in June, records show.
Sex offenders upon release from prison are required by courts to register with the sheriff’s office in the county where the offender resides, South Carolina law states. A list of those people, with addresses and pictures, is publicly available online through the sheriff’s office and SLED.
Walker also was sentenced to supervised release for five years as part of his federal court sentence, documents show.
This story was originally published November 16, 2021 at 2:52 PM.
