NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A homeless man accused of attacking a woman behind an Ocean View store confessed to police that he raped her, according to court documents.
Police arrested 19-year-old Joseph Sheets and charged him with rape, abduction, strangulation, and assault and battery in connection to a Nov. 3 attack on a 55-year-old woman.
The woman, who is also homeless, reported the rape to police just before midnight. She told police that she knew Sheets prior to the attack.
The woman told police she was behind the Ocean Food Mart when Sheets joined her to hang out. At some point he began to touch her inappropriately and insinuated that he wanted to have sex with her. He said he didn’t want her to be with any other man, according to court documents.
Sheets became angry when the woman told him she didn’t want to have sex with him.
He allegedly attacked her, punched her in the face several times and choked her to the point where she couldn’t breathe, court documents state.
She told police she thought she might die.
Sheets continued to punch her throughout the rape, which lasted about an hour and a half. When police took her report they noted that her face was swollen, and that she was bruised with marks on her neck, according to court documents.
Sheets fled from the scene.
Police located him nearby and questioned him about the attack. At first he denied knowing the woman, but then confessed to punching and raping her, court documents state.
Sheets is scheduled to appear in Norfolk General District Court on Jan. 8, 2019.
