OTTAWA, Kan. (AP) A former cross-country truck driver was sentenced to 33 years in prison for a 2000 kidnapping and sexual assault of an Ottawa teenager.
Ralph E. Corey, 53, was sentenced Tuesday in Franklin County on five charges. He kidnapped a 16-year-old girl from an Ottawa Walmart as she left work and sexually assaulted her.
The victim, now 29, on Tuesday asked the judge to give Corey the maximum possible sentence. During sentencing, the judge cited Corey’s extensive criminal history, which included more than 20 convictions and at least one other sexual offense.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports the case was cold until 2011, when Corey’s DNA profile matched evidence collected at the scene. At the time, Corey was in a federal prison in Arizona on counterfeiting charges.
