Lexington man charged with rapes of two women, ages 64 and 78

A Lexington man was arrested Monday and charged in the rapes of two women who were 64 and 78, according to Fayette District Court records.

Jeffery Gregory Cummins, 28, was arrested Monday night on two counts of first-degree rape, three counts of first-degree sodomy, two counts of first-degree burglary, tampering with evidence, criminal mischief, and four counts of viewing matter that portrays the sexual performance of a minor. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Fayette District Court.

Last Friday, Lexington police received a DNA match linking Cummins to the first attack, which occurred in 2015.

The most recent rape occurred Sunday, involved a victim who was 78, Lexington police said. A citation says that Cummins used a crowbar to enter the residence before raping and sodomizing her.

When Lexington police received the DNA match Friday, they began looking for Cummins, police spokeswoman Brenna Angel said. Police could have arrested Cummins on probable cause.

“The timeline of events is awful,” Angel said. “We were looking for him this weekend and determined he was out-of-county.”

Officers applied for an arrest warrant, and state police arrested him Monday in Frankfort.

In the first case, the victim was watching television on April 11, 2015, when she heard a creak behind her, according to court records. She saw Cummins standing in the basement doorway, police said. He asked her twice if she was alone and she replied yes.

He asked if she had any money, and she she went to her purse and pulled out her wallet, which had $20. She noticed he was wearing white gloves with a wristband on them.

He grabbed her arm and she saw that he held a multi-tool instrument with a small knife extended, records say. Cummins made the woman look for tape, but she found only a roll of transparent tape.

Cummins guided her to the bedroom and ordered her to take off her clothes while he did the same, according to court records. The victim told police that she thought to herself, “If he only rapes me, I’ll give him what he wants and he won’t kill me.”

Cummins told her that he would kill her if she tried to get away from him, records say.

During the investigation, police found a window where the attacker had possibly entered, according to court records. A forensics unit collected a palm print and determined that it belonged to Cummins.

Police found Cummins and obtained a search warrant for his DNA. Two swabs from his mouth were sent to a Kentucky State Police lab. The DNA from vaginal swabs from the victim matched the mouth swabs, according to court records.

Cummins was charged with criminal mischief because he kicked and damaged damage a police cruiser while in custody. He was charged with tampering because he poured bleach on some evidence, court records said. Police found four images on a cellphone of a child younger than 8 in a sexual performance; Cummins acknowledged that the phone was his.

This story was originally published August 23, 2016 at 9:09 AM with the headline "Lexington man charged with rapes of two women, ages 64 and 78."