It took nearly 21 years, but a Smyrna man who raped a teenager in December 1998 is headed to prison after a long-untested DNA kit linked him to the crime.
Ricky Remon Moss, now 49, was convicted late Thursday of raping the 16-year-old and sentenced Friday morning to two consecutive life sentences behind bars. Prosecutors said Moss is the first person convicted in Cobb County under a 2016 mandate that required law enforcement agencies to test their old rape kits.
RELATED: GBI: More than 4,200 untested rape kits analyzed under new Georgia law
The bill was passed in the wake of a June 2015 Atlanta Journal-Constitution report that found Grady Memorial Hospital had stored in filed cabinets as many as 1,500 rape kits and never told police about them.
MORE: Despite victim requests, Grady withheld rape evidence from police
The attack on the 16-year-old occurred the afternoon of Dec. 17 near Twin Courts Lane in Marietta, authorities said. The victim told police she met Moss a few days earlier, but said she only knew his first name.
Following the assault, she immediately reported the rape to Cobb police and underwent a sexual assault examination to collect DNA evidence. At the time, however, laboratories only tested the kits when a known sample could also be submitted for comparison, the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office said.
After the new law was passed, the rape kit was sent to the GBI for testing. In December 2017, the crime lab confirmed a match to Moss, a felon who was living in Smyrna.
He was convicted of rape, aggravated sexual battery and false imprisonment.
“It is a bittersweet moment when justice is delivered after a lengthy delay, but law enforcement capabilities are ever-evolving,” Cobb DA Joyette Holmes said. “I am elated that now, more than 20 years after this man took advantage of the innocence of a teenager, truth has prevailed.”
Georgia's Criminal Justice Coordinating Council has created a website to assist survivors of sexual assault who believe their kit may not have been tested previously. The Victim Notification Portal can be found here.
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