Is that your kind of hero?

Amen!

"Mys Terry" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 15:40:08 GMT, "Bob Crantz"
wrote:

I think truckers are America's superheroes!

Bless them!

Amen!

"Joe" wrote in message
groups.com...
A trucker was the one who stopped the DC snipers.

Must be cool to be a trucker, sorta like a super hero.

Joe



Suspect Had Rape Record
Florida Truck Driver Was Jailed, Released
February 18, 2006
By TRACY GORDON FOX, Courant Staff Writer

The truck driver charged Friday with the kidnapping and rape of an
Ashford woman served 12 years in a Florida prison for committing
nearly exactly the same crime 18 years ago.

Thomas E. Hooks, 50, was sentenced to 27 years in prison for an April
4, 1988, attack. In that incident, he rammed a woman's vehicle off the
road with his 18-wheeler, forced her into the truck at gunpoint and
raped her twice before discarding her at the side of the road,
according to published reports.

Hooks was released in 2000, having served less than half of his
sentence, and soon got another job as a truck driver, working for
Southern Cal Transport of Birmingham, Ala., according to police
records.

On Feb. 6, police said, Hooks waved down the Ashford woman on an I-84
exit ramp, telling her there was something wrong with his truck. When
she got out of her car to offer her cellphone, he forced her into the
sleeper cab, where he blindfolded her, raped her and threatened to
shoot her if she looked at him, police said.

Initially, the details seemed sketchy. The rapist was described as a
heavy-set black man, 45 to 50, driving a common-looking white
tractor-trailer one exit from a major truck stop where hundreds of big
rigs drive through daily.

But using details from the victim and information from witnesses who
saw Hooks and his truck, detectives from the Department of Public
Safety's Eastern District Major Crime Squad tracked Hooks and the
Alabama trucking company he had been working for. The state police
forensic laboratory also found Hooks' DNA on a piece of evidence left
at the crime scene, sources said.

Hooks, of 1030 Cynthia Lane, Pensacola, Fla., was charged with
first-degree kidnapping, first-degree aggravated sexual assault,
criminal use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, unlawful
restraint and third-degree sexual assault.

Now Connecticut authorities said they would be working with police
along the East Coast to determine whether Hooks is responsible for
similar unsolved crimes.

"We will certainly provide the information we have in our case to law
enforcement, due to the transient business he was in," said Sgt. J.
Paul Vance, a state police spokesman.

Hooks was arrested Friday shortly after 11 a.m. at Route 372 and
Industrial Park Road in Cromwell, on a run through Connecticut, state
police said. Troopers seized the truck and plan to search it for
evidence. Hooks was held, with bail set at $1 million, and is
scheduled to appear in Superior Court in Danielson Tuesday, police
said.

The woman and her family learned the details of Hooks' prior crime
after his arrest Friday.

"I'm furious. That's disgusting," the Ashford victim's brother said of
Hooks' being convicted of a similar crime and released early. Hooks'
picture can be found on Florida's sexual offender website.

The Ashford mother of three was ecstatic that state police detectives
had been able to track down her attacker, her brother said.

"She's extremely relieved. The nightmare is over," he said, adding
that she had gone out to lunch with her sister to celebrate after
hearing the news. "We are all elated. My mom called me in tears."

The day after the Feb. 6 assault, the victim's family put up signs
along the highway, urging anyone who may have seen the white
tractor-trailer or its driver to call a tip line. State police also
set up roadblocks, and questioned commuters coming home around the
time of the evening attack.

The woman was returning home from her job with warm Chinese food in
the back of her car and heading to pick up her children at day care
when she stopped to help the truck driver, she told police.

Police credit the woman's "great courage with her ability to recall
specific important detail," in helping them solve the crime, Vance
said.

The woman managed to call 911 from a cellphone and shout for help
during the attack, a call that sent troopers to the exit where her car
had been left, its engine still running.

But the truck driver had already driven to the next exit, near the
truck stop, where he eventually dragged the woman out of his truck and
tied her to a tree, police said. She managed to get free of the ropes
and flagged down a passing motorist, who called state police.

The woman "suffered a great deal in this criminal act," Vance said.
"The victim's cooperation with the state police detectives has enabled
them to keep this investigation moving forward."

She was able to identify Hooks through photographs after police
learned of his identity, sources said. The trucking company he worked
for was cooperative in the investigation, police said. No one was
available for comment at the company Friday.

A team of detectives used cellphone records, satellite tracking
systems and some forensic evidence to track Hooks, sources said.

"Since the 6th of February, certain investigators have worked
nonstop," Vance said.

The victim's brother said he has been amazed by her strength. The
family is hoping Hooks will be convicted and not be set free this
time.

"She's strong and pulling through this better than most," her brother
said. "She could have just crawled up in a ball. But she wanted
everyone to know what had happened if it helps to save one person."