An intruder who was held at knifepoint by a northwest Atlanta homeowner last week was just out of prison and still on probation for rape, aggravated sodomy, aggravated assault and other charges, a spokeswoman with the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office confirmed.
Cleophus Ward was sentenced in 2004 to concurrently serve 30 years in three separate sex crimes cases, spokeswoman Nakell Williams told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Ward was released from prison in May after he served 15 years of his sentence and was granted probation for the remaining half.
He violated that probation when Atlanta police say he slipped inside Elizabeth and Luke Allens’ home last week. He faces charges of criminal trespass and giving a false name to an officer.
Williams said two active probation warrants were issued for Ward on Tuesday.
Ward was first arrested in May 2002 in a series of sex crimes cases in Fulton County, according to jail records.
On March 26, 2002, he kidnapped a woman at gunpoint from a store, drove her to an abandoned home and attempted to rape her, according to a Fulton County police report.
The woman told Ward she’d have sex with him if he got a condom. Ward tied the woman up, put her in a closet and headed to the store. The victim eventually escaped and reported the crime to police.
Less than two months later, Ward offered to take a woman home, but instead drove her around Atlanta before stopping at his “mother’s house,” according to another police report. There, he forced the woman inside, “snorted drugs,” asked her for sex and began groping her.
Ward’s sister walked inside and kicked the victim and Ward out of the home. The victim was able to convince Ward to drive her to a gas station, where she hitched a ride with two other people.
As she was getting in their car, Ward snatched the woman’s purse and left the area. He was arrested a week later.
A day after that arrest, Fulton County police received another sex crimes report on Ward. This time, he kidnapped a woman and her kids at gunpoint and took them to an unknown residence, where he raped the woman.
In the latest incident, police said he slipped in through the Allens’ garage, which was left open after Elizabeth Allen went for her 6 a.m. run. Luke Allen heard Ward inside the home, told him he had a gun and ordered him to the ground.
Once the homeowner saw Ward was on the ground, he grabbed a knife from the kitchen and kept Ward there until officers arrived, according to the police report.
It is not clear why Ward entered the home.
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