Two Georgians involved in a sexual assault in March 2019 pleaded guilty this week to false imprisonment for their actions.
District Attorney Bert Poston could not be reached Wednesday or Thursday, but he confirmed to the Dalton Daily Citizen-News that Marlon Bradford Burk of Chatsworth and Amy Louise Marie Jones of Dalton pleaded guilty for their roles in an alleged rape case in Whitfield County.
On March 31, 2019, a Whitfield County sheriff's deputy was called to Downing Street just east of the Dalton city limits on a report of a woman being sexually assaulted. When the deputy arrived he was flagged down by the caller, according to an incident report from the Whitfield County Sheriffs Office.
The woman told the deputy that she had been visiting Dalton and was hanging out with Jones. The night before, the woman told the deputy, Jones took her to a trailer on Richardson Drive where two men raped her. The woman said methamphetamine was involved.
The woman told deputies the people she had met told her they had ties to "the Mexican mob" and tried to scare her by saying she had a "hit on her" for being an informant for the feds.
Six months later, in September, Richard Lawrence Forrest of Dalton pleaded guilty to aggravated sodomy, false imprisonment and terroristic threats. Forrest was sentenced to 30 years (12 of those will be in prison without parole and 18 will be probation for the aggravated sodomy guilty plea). Forrest was also sentenced to five years for the false imprisonment and terroristic threats and will serve those concurrently.
Richard Marvin Smith of Dalton was indicted for rape, false imprisonment, terroristic threats, theft by taking and criminal attempt to commit kidnapping. His case is ready for trial.
Lindsey Janell Lowe was indicted for false imprisonment, terroristic threats and criminal attempt to commit kidnapping and will be scheduled for trial May 10.
Burk is scheduled to be sentenced in Whitfield County Superior Court on May 18, and Jones is set to be sentenced on June 15.
Contact Patrick Filbin at pfilbin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476. Follow him on Twitter @PatrickFilbin.