Hotel clerk charged in rape of guest who came to him for help, Georgia cops say
A hotel guest was in search of help when she was sexually assaulted, authorities in Georgia say. Now a front desk attendant is charged in her rape.
Jermaine Soo-Tim, 31, was arrested and charged in the Dec. 3 incident at a Red Roof Inn & Suites in Newnan, WSB-TV reported, citing the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office.
The woman told deputies she was at the hotel visiting a friend and became “highly intoxicated,” according to The Newnan Times-Herald. She went to the lobby for help after she got locked out of the room and urinated on herself in the elevator, according to news outlets.
Soo-Tim, who was at the front desk, told the woman to follow him to an office where she could clean up, deputies said, the newspaper reported.
That’s when he led her to an area out of sight of the hotel’s surveillance cameras, where the two remained for about 20 minutes, according to an incident report obtained by WSB-TV. They came back to the common area where the woman was seen wearing only a shirt and her underwear.
Authorities said the rape occurred while Soo-Tim and the woman were off-camera, the Times-Herald reported.
McClatchy News reached out to the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday, Dec. 8, and was awaiting a response.
Authorities said someone from the hotel called 911 but hung up, WAGA reported. Deputies went to investigate and found the woman who said she had been raped. The accused clerk was gone by the time they arrived.
Soo-Tim was later arrested at his other job and charged with rape and kidnapping, according to the station. He was booked into jail without bond.
Newnan is about 40 miles southwest of downtown Atlanta.
This story was originally published December 8, 2022 at 1:44 PM with the headline "Hotel clerk charged in rape of guest who came to him for help, Georgia cops say."