Ex-cop gets prison for rape during 2019 traffic stop

A former Lithonia officer with a history of sexual assault allegations was sentenced to 25 years in prison after admit- ting to raping a woman less than a mile from his police station.

David Wilborn, 45, pleaded guilty Friday to rape, aggravated assault and two counts o f false imprisonment in the 2019 rape dur i ng a traffic stop at Litho- nia Park. Authorities said Wilborn was on duty and in uniform when he forced the woman out of a car and raped her at gun- point as her friend lay face- down in front of the vehicle.

Afterward, the officer told his victim to repeat the words “nothing happened” before allowing her and her friend to leave, according to DeKalb County prosecutors. Wilborn’s body camera was turned off during the assault, and the man driving the car later told investigators he was too afraid to intervene.

Wilborn was arrested the following morning after the victim reported the rape and described the officer to authorities.

The officer later told a supervisor he was at the park that night and had sex with a woman, though he maintained it was consen- sual. He also acknowledged “that he messed up and that his career is over,” a DeKalb police sergeant testified at a pretrial hearing.

Wilborn was hired by Litho- nia police in 2017 despite a history of complaints against him by co-workers and the public dating to his time with the Atlanta Police Depart- ment.

Wilborn resigned from APD in 2008 after an allegation of on-duty sexual assault, though no charges were filed in that case, officials said.

Records show an investigation was launched in September 2007 after a woman said Wilborn, while on duty and in full uniform, performed a sexual act in front of her. Wilborn allegedly admitted to supervisors that he approached the woman at the lingerie shop where she worked, followed her to a backroom and engaged in the act, state records show.

In 2010, Wilborn’s police certification was suspended for two years following a speeding citation in Perry. He also received a public reprimand from the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council.

Wilborn was later hired by the Lithonia Police Department even though the agency knew about his checkered past when he applied, records show. A background investigator wrote a letter to the department detailing Wilborn’s sexual misconduct allegation and the speeding incident for which he lost his police certification years earlier.

After his 2019 arrest, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office said it was investigating a second rape allegation made by a woman who said the officer assaulted her two years earlier at a northwest Atlanta apartment complex.

At the time, Wilborn was working an off-duty job as a security guard, authorities said. The woman said she let him into her home because he was an officer and she trusted him. It wasn’t immediately clear if the former cop was ever charged in that case.

Wilborn also pleaded guilty Friday to sexual contact by a law enforcement officer, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and five counts of violating his oath of office, according to the DeKalb DA’s Office.

He was sentenced to life in prison, with 25 years to serve without parole and the balance on probation. Wilborn must also register as a sex offender.

David Wilborn