Man gets life for Bluffton sexual assault. He’s also suspected in at least 23 other crimes
A Hampton County man suspected of rape in two other states was found guilty Wednesday of breaking into a Bluffton woman’s home and sexually assaulting her, according to a 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office news release.
Lance Rontavis Elam, 31, of Tarboro, was sentenced in Beaufort County to serve life in prison for burglary and 30 years for criminal sexual conduct, the release said.
On April 28, 2017, Elam hopped a fence to stake out the woman’s home and stood in her open garage before climbing through an open window and sexually assaulting the woman, the release said.
He told investigators that he jumped on the bed “like an animal,” according to the release.
Before he left, he forced her to bathe and took her bed sheets, the underwear she had been wearing, her cellphone and a watch set, the release said.
Later that night, he pulled over in the Bluffton Post Office’s parking lot with a flat tire, the release said.
Two of the woman’s relatives tracked her stolen iPhone there and called 911 when they saw him removing the bed sheets from the cab of the truck, the release said. Bluffton Police arrested him there.
DNA evidence and testimony from 10 witnesses during the two-day trial helped convict Elam, the release said.
His record had included only traffic offenses, but the DNA collected when he was arrested by the Bluffton Police Department connected him to sexual assaults and burglaries in Texas and the Charlotte area, where he has 23 arrest warrants, the release said.
