A former Alabama corrections officer who has allegedly sexually assaulted women in three states will remain behind bars in Fulton County.
Judge Craig L. Schwall denied bond to Matthew Moore, 49, of Springville, Alabama on Thursday. Moore, formerly employed with the Alabama Department of Corrections, was arrested in April when Sandy Springs police matched his DNA from evidence in an alleged rape that occurred on Nov. 15, 2015.
Police have connected Moore to five other alleged sexual assaults – one in Homewood, Alabama in 2008; one in Birmingham, Alabama in 2010; one in Cobb County in 2010; another in Sandy Springs in 2010; and possibly another in Jupiter, Florida in March.
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In the two Georgia incidents, police say that Moore impersonated a police officer, showing his victims a badge and pointing a gun at them before forcing them to perform sexual acts on him.
“People would think I had lost my mind if I granted (Moore) bond,” Schwall said during the bond hearing. “This man is a flight risk and a danger to the community.”
Prosecuting the case was Amy Ferguson, a deputy district attorney for Fulton County. Representing Moore was Decatur-based private attorney Steve Cowan. Neither attorney offered a comment after the hearing.
Moore was present in court, wearing a blue shirt and blue pants issued by the Fulton County jail. He hands and feet were shackled and he did not speak.
In the Nov. 15, 2015 incident in Sandy Springs, Ferguson said that Moore met a woman on a dating site and during the date asked her for a massage. Inside her Barfield Road home, Moore pulled a knife on the victim after the massage, cut off her clothing and demanded she do everything he asked.
Ferguson said that Moore raped the woman and recorded the incident with his phone. The victim eventually escaped, opening a door to where other people were sitting in the home. Witnesses saw Moore with his pants down and that’s when he pulled a gun and threatened to harm everyone before fleeing the home.
Police were called and found a “rape bag” containing zip ties, stockings and handcuffs. Officers were able to pull DNA from the scene matching Moore’s, Ferguson said. The handcuffs found were also inscribed with the name of the jail where Moore worked.
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Sandy Springs detective William Johnson testified at the hearing that new evidence previously overlooked was found in the case when the file was reviewed in 2017. He led a task force that included personnel from the GBI, FBI, Cobb County police and police from Jefferson County, Alabama.
Johnson said he has been reviewing Moore’s jail calls, and Moore has had discussions with his daughter and father about the location of his passport.
Cowan argued that Moore wasn’t a flight risk and that he hasn’t left the country since he was in the Army and served as a military policeman in South Korea from 1988 to 1993.
Moore also does not have any previous criminal history, his attorney argued.
A trial date for Moore has not been set, but Ferguson said Fulton County plans to indict him within 90 days.
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