Aiken County man pleads guilty to sexually assaulting a woman in 2015 at a Beaufort Lowe’s
A man accused of sexually assaulting a woman outside of a Beaufort Lowe’s in 2015 pleaded guilty in court Thursday at the Beaufort County Courthouse and was sentenced to three years in prison.
Frankie Williams, 51, of Aiken County, was charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct in October 2017, court records show. Williams was released just a few hours after he was booked at the Detention Center in Beaufort, according to previous reporting from the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.
On Nov. 19, 2015, Williams was driving a woman home from a doctor’s appointment while working as a driver for a transportation service, according to Assistant Solicitor Hunter Swanson. At one point during the drive, Williams pulled over at the Beaufort Lowe’s on Robert Smalls Parkway where he assaulted the woman.
DNA evidence linked Williams to the assault, according to previous stories.
In a statement, the woman said she agreed to the plea because she did not want to “drag out” the case both for herself and Williams’ “wife and children.” The woman said she has been anxious since the incident and has sought counseling to cope. The first few months after it happened, she said she could not bear to look at anything that was bright yellow because it would bring back flashbacks of the yellow street lines she focused on as she “froze” during the assault.
“I am walking out of this courtroom and walking into my life because I deserve to live it,” she said while wearing a bright yellow blouse.
One of Williams’ defense attorneys, Tabor Vaux, said there were a “lot of issues” with the investigation including contradicting statements from the woman who was assaulted and her sister, and officers allegedly “knowingly recorded” Williams while he was getting legal advice.
Williams’ attorney also questioned “whether Frankie could have actually physically” assaulted the woman due to burns sustained in a 2007 fire and a motorcycle crash that left him injured.
“He’s never been in trouble before this happened seven years ago and he hasn’t been in trouble since,” Vaux said.
Judge Bentley Price handed down a three-year sentence and gave Williams six months probation.
If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual abuse, help can be found by calling the Hopeful Horizons 24-hour support line at 843-770-1070.
