By Joe Johnson
A second arrest was made this week in an alleged June armed robbery near downtown Athens of two women, one of whom was a recent University of Georgia graduate who the robber allegedly raped.
Quinntylis Demarcus Teasley, 20, of Athens, was arrested two days after the incident and charged with rape and two counts each of armed robbery and aggravated assault.
Teasley’s girlfriend, 20-year-old Dakota Cepuran, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with conspiracy to commit armed robbery and tampering with evidence.
“She was aware of Teasley's plans to commit robberies in the downtown area and helped facilitate this specific incident by retrieving items of evidentiary value that Teasley had hidden,” said Lt. Shaun Barnett, public information officer for the Athens-Clarke County Police Department.
“At this time, I am unable to go into further detail,” he said.
According to previous police reports, the incident happened shortly after 2 a.m. June 23 in the area of Foundry and Strong streets, a couple of blocks from the downtown business area.
The women, both in their early 20s, were walking home from downtown when approached by a black male who was armed with a gun and had his face concealed, according to police.
The suspect robbed the women of various items before leading the UGA grad to a secluded area where he allegedly raped her, police said.
The other woman ran to a friend’s home in the area to call 911, police said, and when an officer arrived at the scene, the rape victim ran to the officer from a wooded area.
Capt. Christopher Nichols, who at the time was commanding officer of the police Criminal Investigations Division said it took a department-wide effort to identify and arrest Teasley, from the detectives who reviewed many hours of surveillance camera video footage, to the Crime Analysis Unit and Uniform Patrol Division.
He said Teasley was identified as a suspect because he appeared in video footage to be in the same locations at about the same time as the victims.
"Our analysts were able to analyze and connect several data sources which assisted in identifying a person of interest and led to investigators obtaining warrants for Teasley’s arrest," Nichols said. "Our patrol division was quick to locate and apprehend Teasley," who resided with Cepuran off of Lakeside Drive.
Teasley was being detained without bail being set, and Cepuran was granted a $5,000 bond on the tampering with evidence charge, but bond was not granted for the conspiracy charge.