Toledoan convicted of rape, kidnapping

5/5/2007

A Toledo man accused of keeping a woman tied up in his house and raping her for several hours was convicted yesterday in Lucas County Common Pleas Court of rape and kidnapping.

Billy Ray Simpson, 37, of 3460 Rock Ct., was found guilty by a jury after the week-long trial. He faces up to 10 years in prison on each count.

Simpson is accused of assaulting the woman to whom he previously gave crack cocaine. A 41-year-old mother of one child, the victim lived in Simpson's Point Place neighborhood and began doing crack with him and another man. Authorities said the men ordered the victim to prostitute herself to pay off some of the money that she owed them for the drugs, but she refused. They then took her to Simpson's house where she was bound and raped.

Simpson will return to Judge Denise Ann Dartt's courtroom Monday so a sentencing date can be scheduled. Also to be scheduled Monday is a trial for additional charges Simpson faces.

He is accused of kidnapping, rape, aggravated robbery, and felonious assault in the attack on a different victim in 2004.