Former corrections officer pleads guilty to raping 2 women in Sandy Springs

ATLANTA - A former Alabama corrections officer who posed as a police officer pled guilty Thursday to raping two women in Sandy Springs in the middle of his criminal trial.

Fifty-year-old Matthew Moore entered the guilty plea on the third day of his trial in Fulton County Superior Court on charges of rape, false imprisonment, impersonating an officer, aggravated sexual battery and aggravated assault.

Moore’s plea came after prosecutors played a video for the jury that he recorded on his phone of a 2015 rape in Sandy Springs.

After the tape was played in court, the victim told jurors Moore used a knife against her neck, “and that’s when he was just telling me he was going to be the last person I saw that day.”

After the jury heard the tape, Superior Court Judge Constance Russell asked defense attorneys if they wanted to continue with the trial, and that’s when Moore pled guilty.

FORMER CORRECTIONS OFFICER ACCUSED OF RAPING WOMEN DENIED BOND

Judge Russell sentenced Moore to life in prison, with 30 years to serve and the remainder on probation.

At a late afternoon news conference with prosecutors and police, Fulton County Paul Howard praised both women for being courageous but added he believes there are more victims out there.

(FOX 5 Atlanta)

Prosecutors say in June 2010, Moore met an Atlanta woman online for the purpose of erotic massage. They agreed to meet in person at the Homestead Suites along Hammond Drive in Sandy Springs. When she arrived, Moore identified himself as a police officer, and he flashed a badge, a firearm, and pepper spray. Moore proceeded to force the victim to perform oral sex upon him, and then the defendant raped her while his gun sat upon the bed. Moore then wiped himself with a napkin, got dressed, and left the hotel room. The victim called 911, and she was transported to a local hospital where she underwent a sexual assault examination. Investigators collected the napkin as evidence.

JURY SELECTION IN TRIAL OF FORMER CORRECTIONS OFFICER ACCUSED OF RAPING WOMEN

On November 17, 2015, Moore contacted another woman who had placed an advertisement upon the website “backpage.com” to solicit clients who were interested in receiving an erotic massage. The woman agreed to meet Moore at the Hawthorne Suites along Barfield Road in Sandy Springs. Upon his arrival, Moore brandished a knife and a firearm which he pointed at the victim. Moore pressed himself upon the victim with the knife in his hand.

Moore utilized the knife to remove the victim’s clothing and then placed the knife and a pair of metal handcuffs upon the bed. Moore positioned his cellphone upon the nightstand so he could record the entire incident. Moore placed pantyhose around the victim’s hands and then zip-tied her arms behind her back. The defendant proceeded to orally, vaginally, and anally rape and sodomize the victim with his hands and penis for more than 40 minutes. The victim was eventually able to escape as Moore attempted to continue to rape her with a large sex-related object. The victim screamed and ran toward the hotel room door which she quickly opened. Three men who were outside in the hallway saw the victim who was naked and screaming for help. Additionally, they observed the defendant who was also naked. Moore pointed his firearm in their direction, forced the three men to retrieve his cell phone which was near the bedside, and then he fled the hotel. The victim underwent a sexual assault examination. Investigators gathered several items that Moore left behind including the pair of handcuffs which were inscribed with the name of the jail where Moore worked in Alabama as a corrections officer.

A year and a half later, in 2017, the sexual assault examination revealed the existence of DNA that matched the DNA collected from the victim of the Homestead Suites rape in Sandy Springs in 2010, as well as a 2008 sexual assault in Homewood, Alabama, a 2010 sexual assault in Cobb County, and a 2010 sexual assault in Birmingham, Alabama. The Sandy Springs Police Department conducted a search of cell phone-related records which ultimately led investigators to Moore. Sandy Springs Investigators determined that Moore worked at a correctional facility in Alabama, and they began to track his phone. On March 30, 2018, the Sandy Springs Police Department executed search warrants at Moore’s home and place of employment. A DNA buccal swab was collected from Moore, and they also recovered zip ties, pantyhose restraints, computers, cell phones, and sex toys. The video that Moore recorded of the 2015 rape in Sandy Springs was still on his phone three years later. Investigators proceeded to arrest Moore for the rapes in Sandy Springs.

The DNA collected from Moore on March 30, 2018, matched the DNA collected during the crimes in Fulton County, Cobb County, Alabama, and a sexual assault in Jupiter, Florida on March 7, 2018. 

POLICE SAY MORE VICTIMS OF FORMER ALA. CORRECTIONS OFFICER LIKELY