A man with two prior sex crime convictions was arrested at an Oklahoma City restaurant earlier this week, after he walked in on a police interview with a woman he is accused of raping minutes before.
Robert M. Mcneal, 48, is a registered Illinois sex offender with convictions of sexual battery of a 12-year-old girl and rape of an elderly woman. He was arrested Tuesday on complaints of rape and robbery after a woman told police he raped her in a bus station bathroom and stole several items from her purse.
According to the woman's report, a man at the Union Bus Station told her that a restroom she was about to enter was out of order and that she would have to use a men's restroom elsewhere in the station. She believed him to be an employee, and went to a downstairs men's restroom. Her attacker followed her into a stall and raped her. After the assault, the woman ran to a nearby restaurant, hid in the kitchen, and called police.
A responding officer took her to the dining area to interview her and get a report. During the interview, Mcneal entered the restaurant and the woman became visibly agitated. The officer confronted Mcneal, who said he was only in the restaurant to get a drink; however, a search of the suspect revealed the woman's bus ticket hidden in his sock.
Mcneal was booked into the Oklahoma County Jail on complaints of rape and robbery with bail set at $90,000. First degree rape, which includes forcible rape, is punishable by a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. It is a crime subject to the state's 85 Percent Rule, which means that 85 percent of the convicted person's sentence must be served before he or she is eligible for parole.
Under Oklahoma law, anyone convicted of first degree rape a second time is ineligible for probation, and anyone convicted of a third offense of rape or attempted rape, forcible sodomy, or lewd or indecent proposals or acts to a child under 16, or a combination of these offenses, is sentenced to life in prison without parole.
If a person is convicted of first degree rape, he or she is required to register as an Oklahoma Sex Offender for life. As a Level 3 Sex Offender, the person must register with law enforcement every 90 days. Level 3 Sex Offenders are considered the most likely to be habitual offenders.
In the case of people with prior rape convictions, this may be true; however, many Level 3 offenders are actually people convicted of lesser crimes, such as second degree rape, or statutory rape, in which their victims provided verbal consent to sex, but that consent was not legal due to age or custodial status.
