DNA hit leads to arrest in alleged rape
TEXARKANA, Arkansas — A man whose DNA is included in a database of convicted felons was arrested on a rape charge last month.
The profile of LePeter McDole, 34, allegedly returned as a match to a sample collected from a woman who reported an attack while walking last year.
McDole was arrested May 19 in connection with a sexual assault first investigated by Texarkana, Arkansas, police in October, according to a probable cause affidavit.
A woman reported she had been approached by a man asking for a cigarette while on a walking trail near Ed Worrell Park in Texarkana, Arkansas, about 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 21, according to the affidavit.
The woman told investigators that she told the man she didn’t have a cigarette and continued walking past him.
The woman reported that when she approached a wooded area between the park and E. 24th Street, she was grabbed from behind.
The probable cause affidavit describes the woman as “a small lady, 4’11.” The woman described her alleged attacker as approximately 6 foot tall. Jail records indicate McDole is 5’11.
The woman told detectives that her attacker put a rag over her mouth, dragged her behind some trees and threw her to the ground.
While on the ground, the attacker allegedly used a sweat band to blindfold the woman and punched her in the back and stomach.
The affidavit states the woman said “he would kill her family if she told anyone.”
The attacker allegedly took the rag he’d used to gag the woman and the blindfold with him when he fled down the trail toward the park.
On May 6, Texarkana,
Arkansas, Detective Wayne Easley received a report from the Arkansas State Crime Lab advising him that the DNA profile collected from the woman during a sexual assault examination Oct. 21 is an alleged match for McDole’s genetic profile.
Court records show McDole was convicted of a felony drug offense in Bowie County, Texas, in 2014 and convicted of a felony drug offense in Miller County, Arkansas in 2015. Offenders convicted of felony crimes in either state are required to submit a sample of their DNA for inclusion in state and national databases.
McDole is currently being held in the Miller County jail. At an initial court appearance May 21, Circuit Judge Brent Haltom set McDole’s bail at $250,000 on the recommendation of Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell.
If convicted of rape, McDole faces 10 to 40 years or life in an Arkansas prison.