Judge reduces bail for Little Rock man charged in rape of co-worker

Gregory Johnson
Gregory Johnson

A Little Rock man accused of raping a co-worker on the job remained jailed Tuesday even after a Pulaski County circuit judge reduced his $500,000 bail to $75,000.

But that was still not low enough for Gregory Deonta Johnson, 32, who has been in the Pulaski County jail for 18½ weeks after his Feb. 15 arrest by North Little Rock police on the Class Y felony rape charge.

Johnson has pleaded innocent and told police that the April 21, 2018, encounter with his accuser was consensual, one of several regular sexual encounters between them at the hotel.

Johnson is accused of ambushing a housekeeper at the Wyndham hotel in North Little Rock where he had been a maintenance man for eight years, detective Lonnell Tims told Judge Herb Wright at Monday's bail hearing.

Tims said the 30-year-old woman called police to report that she was attacked by Johnson while she was cleaning a room at the hotel at 2 Riverfront Place. The woman told officers that Johnson entered the room and began touching her all over her body. He refused to quit when she told him to stop, then closed and locked the door when she told him to leave, the detective said.

Johnson pinned her down with his hand on her throat, pulled off her clothes and raped her, despite her efforts to resist, Tims testified, saying the woman hit and pushed him to get him away. Johnson then used some of her supplies to clean up and left, although police found his DNA on her clothes, the detective said.

Johnson did have "many" scratches on his forehead, but said the marks were inflicted by one of his children, Tims said, describing how he photographed the marks for evidence.

The woman did not immediately call police, and defense attorney Lott Rolfe questioned Tims closely about that. She finished cleaning the room and then cleaned other rooms, then consulted a friend before notifying authorities, the detective said. Tims and Rolfe disagreed over whether she waited one hour or four hours before calling police, but Tims said her reaction was not unusual for rape victims. The woman also gave the same account of being attacked to two managers at the hotel, Tims said.

Rolfe also questioned why police did not arrest Johnson sooner and pointed out to the judge that the defendant knew about the police investigation but did not flee or evade arrest.

Johnson was a longtime employee at the hotel, cooperated with investigators and answered all of their questions, Rolfe said, asking that the judge reduce Johnson's bail to something more affordable. His mother, Lawanda Kuykendall, said the most his family could afford was $25,000.

Deputy prosecutor Samuel Jackson opposed bail reduction, arguing that the original $500,000 was sufficient.

Metro on 06/26/2019

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