By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Atmore police announced this week the April 11 arrest of a Mobile man who faces numerous felony charges in connection with a violent sexual assault that occurred here three days earlier.
Atmore Police Department Sgt. Darrell McMann reported that APD’s on-call investigator was notified April 8 that a sexual assault victim — who reportedly had been attacked while in Atmore — was being treated for injuries at a Mobile hospital.
The investigator talked with the hospitalized victim, who reported being driven to Atmore the evening before by 34-year-old Ronald Coley of Mobile. The victim said when the pair got to Atmore, Coley “became enraged and dragged the victim into a wooded lot and physically and sexually assaulted the victim.”
Coley fled from the scene on foot, and the victim, who does not live in Atmore, drove the vehicle back to Mobile. McMann said the victim suffered three broken ribs and had severe bruising to the neck, arms, legs and abdomen.
Investigators secured arrest warrants charging Coley with one count each of first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy, second-degree domestic violence (assault) and domestic violence (strangulation). Working with Chickasaw Police Department officers, they took the suspect into custody without incident.
The rape and sodomy charges are both Class A felonies; the strangulation charge is a Class B felony; the domestic assault charge is a Class C felony.
Coley drew an additional charge of interfering with a domestic violence emergency call (a Class B misdemeanor) when it was learned he threw the victim’s phone into the woods before running from the scene. They also learned he was on probation for a previous crime.
According to the Escambia County Detention Center website, Coley remained in the county lockup, without bond, early Tuesday.