(WHDH) — A man pretended to be gay to develop a friendship with a woman he met on a train before luring her into his home, where he brutally raped her, prosecutors said.
Taurence Callagain, 36, of Atlanta, Georgia, was convicted of rape this week in connection with a violent attack on a woman in September 2015, Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard, Jr. announced.
Callagain met the victim at a MARTA station, rode the same train with her, and eventually exchanged phone numbers, prosecutors said.
“The victim is a lesbian and has a female partner who she was in a relationship with when she met the defendant,” Howard said in a news release. “Callagain led the victim to believe he was gay, so she was under the impression that their relationship was strictly platonic.”
On Sept. 6, 2015, the victim missed her bus and Callagain offered to give her a ride home so she did not have to walk. Prosecutors say Callagain then stated that he needed to stop at his home, where the victim thought they were going to smoke marijuana together.
Once inside the house, Callagain strangled the victim in his bedroom and violently raped her, prosecutors said.
“I will get my boys to come in and hold you down,” Callagain threatened as he told the victim not to fight or scream.
The victim eventually escaped Callagain, running three miles in the middle of the night back to her home.
Investigators later searched Callagain’s home and found her underwear in his hamper. Callagain claimed the sex was consensual but he was later arrested.
Callagain is slated to be sentenced at a later date.
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