Even detectives from the Tampa area were shocked by the case; an innocent woman was raped in her home. Her alleged attacker was a salesman who forced his way inside the victim’s home.
Rashad Hales made an appearance in court on Wednesday in Hillsborough County. Hales is accused of raping a woman in her home. Hales is a salesman, going door to door selling ADT security systems, systems that are meant to protect people from someone like him.
Larry McKinnon, a spokesperson for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, said, “You just have to wonder what kind of personality this is, and has he ever done this before?”
Authorities are wondering if this is the first time Hales committed such a heinous crime or if there are more victims out there that have yet to come forward.
The victim resides in the Town N’ Country area and answered the door when Hales knocked. It was only hours from New Year’s Eve. As a result of being a sexual assault victim, the victim’s identity is being protected, who is 19.
The victim told Hales that her fiancé was not home but investigators say that Hales then returned to the home and forced his way inside.
McKinnon said, “It bothers all of us, it shocks the sense of humanity.”
Authorities discovered that Hales wrapped an electrical cord around the neck of the victim, dragged her to the bedroom, and then raped her for 30 minutes. After the crime was complete, Hales left the home with a chilling threat to the woman:
“‘If you tell anyone on this, I’ll kill you.’ He indicated once he was arrested, to detectives, he wished he had killed her. That was his only regret,” said McKinnon.
Another woman from the Bay area knows how the victim of Hales is feeling.
“No one deserves to be attacked, brutalized, personal space invaded,” said Heidi Damon.
Damon was beaten and ravaged in the front of her car in a parking garage in Ybor City. When Damon woke up she was convulsing and had no underwear or pants. Damon was able to face her attacker in court, giving an emotional statement to the court.
“It’s not your fault. You have to dig really deep within yourself as a person and push on yourself for that strength and know that there are bad people out there doing bad things,” Damon says to the victims.
The company Hales was working for is SecureWatch, which has its headquarters in Tennessee. Paul Victor, the COO of the company, was in the Bay area when the crime occurred. Victor issued a statement about the crime.
“We were panicked. It was quite shocking. We never expected anything like this. We do thorough work-ups of people, along with other checks and searches,” he said. “We can’t believe it. We feel terrible. We’ve had such good success with salespeople in the past.”