A former law enforcement officer convicted of kidnapping and raping a 20-year-old North Chattanooga housesitter was sentenced Monday to 60 years in prison.
"I have to say this is one of the worst cases I've heard," Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Rebecca Stern observed, rejecting defense arguments that Tracy Roberson is not a threat to the public.
Roberson, a former patrol officer for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, was sentenced for kidnapping, rape and aggravated burglary.
The sentences are to be served consecutively, Judge Stern ruled.
Roberson was convicted in September of raping the UTC student, who had been hired to stay in a North Chattanooga home and take care of the family dog while the owners of the property were visiting New York.
The conviction came after prosecutors revealed that two pairs of boxers police found tossed on the floor of a bedroom in Roberson’s home contained significant amounts of DNA from the rape victim.
Agent Mike Turbeville from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab’s serology division said Roberson’s DNA also was present in both pieces of underwear.
The star witness in the case was the victim, who took the stand to tell jurors about the night of Aug. 7, 2008, when she was beaten and raped by an intruder in the Heritage Landing home of Alan and Alison Lebovitz.
Prosecutors had asked that Roberson get over 100 years.