Jury convicts South Carolina man of kidnapping woman after he sexually assaulted her in Ohio

A federal jury in Akron convicted a South Carolina man of kidnapping after he sexually assaulted a woman and held her against her will.

Anthony Ingram, 32, is scheduled to be sentenced February 27, 2019.

According to court documents and trial testimony:

Ingram drove a semi-trailer. In Michigan, Ingram lured the woman into his commercial semi-truck by offering her a ride to Indiana. Ingram instead began driving the woman in the opposite direction toward Maryland.

When the woman discovered that Ingram was not taking her to Indiana, Ingram promised the woman he would take her to Indiana after delivering a shipment of goods to Maryland. Ingram then pulled his semi-truck off to the side of the turnpike in Hudson, Ohio, and sexually assaulted her while threatening her with a weapon. 

The woman convinced Ingram to stop at a truck stop in Lima, Ohio where she escaped from Ingram and called 911 from a restaurant.  Beaver Township police officers responded to the scene and Ingram fled in his semi truck.

GPS records showed that Ingram stopped 15 miles down the road. FBI and Ohio State Highway investigators eventually found the woman’s clothing and cell phone discarded next to the turnpike at the location Ingram stopped.

“This case is an example of law enforcement working together to hold accountable a defendant who lured a woman with lies and then assaulted her and held her against her will,” U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman said. “This man is looking at decades in prison, which is exactly where he belongs.”

The FBI, Ohio State Highway Patrol, Pennsylvania State Highway Patrol and Beaver Township Police Department investigated the case, with assistance from the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Daly and Aaron Howell.