COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A man will spend nearly all of a two-decade sentence in prison after he was convicted by a jury of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a Marietta woman a judge said he was trying to groom.
The Cobb County jury convicted 40-year-old Antoine Latroy Williams of kidnapping, sexual battery and three counts of simple battery for a series of events that prosecutors said began on Feb. 25, 2018.
According to the district attorney's office, Williams first met the victim, a woman in her early 20s, in Atlanta offering her a job. Prosecutors said the next day he went to her workplace in Marietta five times. He ended up waiting for her in the parking lot outside the Roswell Road business.
She spoke to him before driving off, but prosecutors said Williams followed her until she pulled over a short distance away. He then forced her to get into his car - leaving her purse and even a shoe behind in her car. Authorities said he drove her around Cobb County and ultimately to Cartersville.
As they drove, prosecutors said Williams threatened that he would hurt her if she tried to escape. He also put his hand on her inner thigh, grabbed her hair and slapped her hand, officials said.
The victim ultimately managed to escape when Williams stopped at a QuickTrip in Cartersville.
Assistant District Attorney Norman Barnett, who prosecuted the case alongside ADA Ashton Murphy, said Williams had a history of victimizing people - including one witness who testified that he sexually assaulted her in Los Angeles years earlier.
"This defendant has demonstrated that he is a danger to society, and he belongs in prison," Barnett said.
And for 18 years of his 20-year sentence, that's where he will likely remain. On Thursday, Cobb Superior Court Judge Stephen Schuster said that 18 years of that sentence will be behind bars. The final two years will be on probation.
“Every shiny object you dangled in front of this girl: a Mercedes, cash, a phone, and a job was just to lure her into your control. I don’t see these as tokens of your affection. You were grooming her … pure and simple,” Judge Schuster said. “I see you as nothing more than a predator.”
MORE STORIES YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN
