Published: May 08, 2008 01:13 am         

Rape suspect accused in prior kidnap attempt

BOSWELL – A Boswell man accused of kidnapping and raping a Ligonier bartender last week now is charged with attempting a similar abduction two years ago.

Dennis Lee Davis, 48, of Willison Road, was arraigned Wednesday on charges he tried to grab a woman May 27, 2006, as she walked along a Jenner Township road.

The woman notified state police at Somerset after reading that Davis had been jailed after he allegedly raped a bartender at the Runway Lounge in Westmoreland County.

The woman, whose identity was not released, filed a report in 2006 but the case went unsolved.

She noticed similarities when she read a newspaper account of the bartender’s kidnapping.

After learning Davis has a history of sexual misconduct, she went to the Pennsylvania Megan’s law Web site, found his picture and realized it was the same man. Davis was registered as a sex offender after a 1991 conviction for involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.

In a court document, the woman said she was walking along Mountain Road in Jenner Township when a man driving a black Chevy Blazer jumped out and grabbed her arm.

The woman said she broke free and ran way, then turned back to get the license number. She said the man watched her from the side view mirror before jumping out and again chasing her.

She fled to a nearby home, and the Blazer drove off.

Police said the woman described Davis, picked him out of a photo lineup last week and described his 1994 Blazer.

Davis was arraigned by District Judge Susan Mankamyer on counts of simple assault, reckless endangerment and harassment.

He was returned to the Somerset County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bond.

     

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