GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – A parolee who beat and raped an elderly Grand Rapids woman in an ordeal she described as a ‘nightmare’ was sentenced Tuesday to a minimum of 28 years in prison for the mid-January attack.
Kelvin Lawrence Williams, 24, who got out of prison last year, pleaded no contest to multiple charges stemming from the break-in and rape at the Marsh Ridge Senior Complex on the city’s Northwest Side.
Kent County Circuit Court Judge Paul Sullivan sentenced Williams to between 28 and 60 years for first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Williams received lesser terms for home invasion and assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder.
The three sentences will be served at the same time. Because he was on parole for two Kent County home invasion convictions, Williams must complete sentences in those cases before he begins the terms handed down on Tuesday.
The elderly woman testified in February that she was attacked the afternoon of Jan. 18 in her apartment at the Marsh Ridge complex off of Lake Michigan Drive NW.
The woman said she was breaking down cardboard boxes in a hallway when she ducked back inside her apartment to use the bathroom, leaving the front door unlocked. Williams entered her apartment through an unlocked door.
The assailant appeared naked in her doorway, the woman testified earlier this year. He choked her, threatened to kill her and raped her.
Williams, who has a chest tattoo that reads “only God can judge us,’’ was located in a nearby apartment in the same building. He was arrested after the victim identified him as her attacker. Investigators recovered DNA evidence linking him to the crime.
The victim was treated at a local hospital for her injuries, which included wounds to her arm that required stitches. She also had bruises all over her body.
Williams, who turned 24 earlier this month, was sentenced to prison in March of 2012 for two Kent County home invasions. He was paroled to Grand Rapids in May of 2017.
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