Serial Rapist Pleads Guilty to Two Cold Case Sexual Assaults; Sentenced to an Additional 20 Years in Prison
1/12/2021
CLEVELAND – Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley
announced that Ronald Wheeler, 48, pleaded guilty to raping two women in
Cleveland in December 2006 and March 2007. Wheeler was sentenced immediately
afterward to 20 years in prison.
“This serial rapist, who has been convicted of raping six victims,
will now rightfully die behind bars,” said Prosecutor O’Malley. “Although
delayed, justice has been served for these victims.”
On December 18, 2006, Wheeler approached the victim, 18, as she
was walking near East 105th Street and Quincy Avenue in Cleveland. He pulled
out a gun, grabbed the victim, and forced the victim to climb through an open
window of a nearby empty building. He threatened to kill her and sexually
assaulted her multiple times at gunpoint before fleeing the scene. The victim
was transported to a nearby hospital where a sexual assault kit was collected.
On March 19, 2007, Wheeler approached the victim, 23, who was
holding her 5-month-old infant while at a bus stop near Woodhill Road and Woodland
Avenue in Cleveland. He pulled out a gun, threatened to kill the victim and her
baby, and forced her to a vacant area by nearby train tracks. He sexually
assaulted her multiple times, several times while holding the victim’s child,
and continued to threaten their lives before stealing her money and fleeing the
scene. The victim was transported to a nearby hospital where a sexual assault
kit was collected.
In 2013, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office (CCPO) assembled
the Sexual Assault Kit Task Force (SAKTF) to address investigative leads that
resulted from the testing of previously unsubmitted rape kits primarily between
1993 to 2011. Both victims’ rape kits were tested by the Ohio Bureau of
Criminal Investigation (BCI) as part of the initiative. The offender’s DNA from
both victims’ rape kits produced matches to Wheeler, whose DNA was in the
Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) – the FBI’s national DNA database – for prior
crimes he committed.
He pleaded guilty to the following charges:
- Two counts of Rape
- One count of Kidnapping
Wheeler, who is already serving a 48-year prison term for four
other stranger rapes, was sentenced to 20 additional years in prison. He will
not be eligible for release until August 2075.
CCPO SAKTF History
Since
its inception, the Task Force has completed 7,026 investigations that have
resulted in 830 defendants indicted, the highest number of any SAKTF in the
country. The number of indictments include 930 victims as several defendants
are convicted or alleged serial offenders. Of those cases, the Task Force has
secured a 93.3% conviction rate.
In October 2020, the CCPO SAKTF was awarded a $1,000,000 grant
from the U.S. Department of Justice, which helped launch the office’s G.O.L.D.
Unit (Genetic Operations Linking DNA). The GOLD Unit’s work includes expanding
SAKTF investigations to include kits submitted from 2012 to 2019, genealogical
testing of cold case sexual assaults and cold case sexually-motivated
homicides, and continuing the Lawfully Owed DNA project.
The SAKTF is led by the CCPO and includes the Cleveland Police
Department, Ohio BCI, Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department, Cuyahoga County
Medical Examiner’s Office, Case Western Reserve University, and the Cleveland
Rape Crisis Center.