Two more charged in rape, kidnapping case
Two more people were arrested and charged in connection with the rape and kidnapping of a local woman in late July.
According to Floyd County Jail records:
Jose Velasquez Jr., 38, of Fort Payne, Alabama, and Jennifer Irene Swanson, 35, were transferred to Floyd County from Cobb County over the weekend. They are being held without bond.
Velasquez and James Joshua Perez, 37, of Cartersville, are accused of showing up at a Martha Berry Boulevard hotel on July 24 and forcing a woman to get into a car with them.
Perez then drove them to a trailer in the Oaks Mobile Home Community on Rockmart Highway where the two men and Swanson tied the woman up with rope, beat her and kept her in a closet.
Perez is accused of raping the woman while keeping her in the trailer. She was also beaten, attacked with a knife and burned while being held.
Police said the mother of the woman’s boyfriend heard about the kidnapping and went to the trailer to confront Velasquez and Perez about where the woman was. She argued with the two men but eventually left. Later on, the woman’s mother and sister came to the trailer and argued with the men to let them in, eventually going in and finding the woman in the closet.
They attempted to chase the three down Rockmart Highway but ended up stopping after calling 911 and being advised to wait for an officer to arrive.
Both Velasquez and Swanson are charged with being parties to the crime of rape, along with aggravated assault and false imprisonment. Velasquez is also charged with felony kidnapping and has a hold for the Gordon County Sheriff’s Office on unspecified charges.
Perez, who was arrested Aug. 11 and is being held without bond, faces charges of rape, false imprisonment, kidnapping, aggravated assault.