NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WVEC) -- A Newport News man is behind bars after he allegedly assaulted a woman with a stun gun and then raped her.
Police say officers were dispatched to the 1600 block of Peterson Place for a report of a person with a firearm and a stun gun. As officers responded, the call was updated that the suspect was in the area of 20th Street and Oak Avenue.
The victim, a 37-year-old Newport News woman, told police that she had been raped by a man she knew. Police say she was visiting the suspect at his home and that he assaulted her with a stun gun and then forcibly sexually assaulted her. After the sexual assault, the woman was able to run from the home.
The suspect, identified as 37-year-old Vernon Leon Carter, of the 1600 block of Newport News, chased the woman a short distance with a handgun before he returned to the home.
Officers tried unsuccessfully to make contact with Carter at his house. Police stayed at the home until warrants were obtained and he was taken into custody.
Carter has been charged with one count each of abduction, rape, sodomy, brandishing a firearm, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, attempt aggravated assault and two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. He is in the custody of the Newport News City Jail.