Man gets 30 years for rape, kidnapping

3/6/2007

BRYAN - A Napoleon man who raped a female acquaintance at gunpoint after entering her home, then kept Bryan police at bay in a four-hour standoff at his grandmother's home last fall is going to prison for 30 years.

Lawrence C. Coulon, 30, will be in prison until he's 60, according to a sentence handed down yesterday by Williams County Common Pleas Court Judge Craig Roth.

Coulon pleaded guilty to rape, kidnapping, aggravated burglary, burglary, and a gun specification in a plea agreement that dropped two additional counts of rape and more gun specifications.

The maximum sentence allowable for the crimes to which Coulon pleaded guilty is 34 1/2 years in prison and more than $60,000 in fines. Coulon, who was found indigent, was not fined.

Had he been convicted on all the indictments against him, the maximum sentence would have been more than 55 years in prison and more than $100,000 in fines.

Coulon was designated a sexually oriented offender, so upon his release from prison he will be required to register annually with the sheriff in the county where he resides.

Victims were not present at the pre-trial conference during which Coulon entered his pleas yesterday. But county Prosecutor Thomas Thompson said they were pleased with the sentence, which does not allow Coulon any options for early release.

Coulon remained last night in the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio near Stryker, where he has been held since the rape, kidnapping, and standoff Nov. 6.

That morning Coulon entered the home of a female acquaintance just before 9 a.m. and raped her at gunpoint.

Authorities said Coulon then forced the woman to drive him to the Colonial Manor Motel in Bryan. The woman freed herself from the car and began to scream in the motel parking lot.

Coulon fled to his grandmother's home where another family member discovered him and called Bryan police about 5 p.m. But Coulon barricaded himself in a bedroom and told police he would not leave. After hours of unsuccessful telephone negotiations, a special response team entered the home, using flash grenades to disorient Coulon, who had a handgun.