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HANOVER TWP. — Township police Friday charged a man from Tennessee with assaulting and raping a woman in March.
Franklyn Nathaniel Drayton, 34, of Columbia, Tenn., is accused of following a woman from the Turkey Hill store on Carey Avenue to Oxford Street where he forced himself on her between two buildings March 18.
Police allege Drayton punched the woman in the head several times as he raped her.
Police said DNA evidence taken from the woman at a hospital matched the genetic profile of Drayton.
Drayton has been jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility since April 27 when Wilkes-Barre police arrested him on charges he exposed himself to several female students on the campus of Wilkes University. He’s facing multiple counts of indecent exposure, open lewdness and resisting arrest in county court.
According to the criminal complaint:
A woman told police she went to Turkey Hill to buy cigarettes and was approached by a man who offered to perform a lewd sex act. When the woman declined, the man followed her to Oxford Street where he grabbed and dragged her between two buildings.
As she struggled with the man, she claimed he punched her several times and raped her.
She also claimed the man took her cell phone.
Shortly after the alleged rape, an officer on patrol spotted a man walking behind a trailer on Oxford Street.
When the officer questioned him, the man claimed he had to relieve himself.
The man identified himself as Franklyn Drayton. He told the officer he was arrested for a drunken driving offense in Larksville earlier that night, and he got a ride to a friend’s house in Wilkes-Barre. Drayton told the officer he was walking around looking for a store to buy liquor.
The officer noticed Drayton had an odor of alcohol on him.
As the officer spoke to Drayton, the officer received a report that a woman reported she was raped on Oxford Street. Drayton was released because he “loosely” matched the description of the alleged rapist, the complaint says.
After Drayton’s arrest by Wilkes-Barre police, he was questioned by township police at the county lockup, where he agreed to provide a DNA sample.
Drayton was arraigned by District Judge Joseph Halesey in Hanover Township on charges of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, sexual assault, robbery, indecent assault, terroristic threats and simple assault. He was remanded to the county correctional facility for lack of $100,000 bail.