Long Beach man convicted of rape in MS cases that happened 2 days apart in 2019
A Long Beach man was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison in two separate rape cases on the Mississippi Coast, according to a press release from the district attorney’s office.
Orlando Darnell Carter, 25, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual battery and one count of forcible sexual intercourse last week at the Harrison County Courthouse in Gulfport.
Circuit Judge Christopher Schmidt sentenced Carter to serve 30 years day-for-day as a habitual offender. Carter’s sentence will run consecutively to a 19 year sentence Carter is already serving on a burglary case for a total sentence of 49 years in prison.
“The defendant was developed as a suspect based on the description provided by the first victim, including distinguishing marks such as tattoos and a deformity in the suspect’s arm and hand. DNA testing conducted by the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory confirmed Carter as the suspect,” said Assistant District Attorney Billy Stage in a press release, who prosecuted the case with Assistant District Attorney Patricia Simpson.
On March 3, 2019, a woman reported to the Long Beach Police Department that she had been grabbed outside of her apartment when she was putting her 4-month-old son into her car.
She told police Carter pointed a black handgun at her, threatened her, and ordered her to drive to an ATM where she was forced to withdraw money. She was then ordered to drive to a beachfront motel in Biloxi where Carter sexually assaulted her.
On March 5, 2019, another woman who lived in the same apartment complex as the first victim reported to the Long Beach Police department that she had been sexually assaulted in her home.
The second victim, who is legally blind, reported that Carter knocked on the door and asked to use her phone. After he used her phone, he threatened her with a black handgun and demanded money. Carter then sexually assaulted her in her home.
Both the Long Beach Police Department and the Biloxi Police Department worked together on this case.
“We commend the Long Beach Police Department and the Biloxi Police Department in working together in their investigations to identify and apprehend this dangerous criminal. There is no amount of incarceration that will give back to the victims that which was taken, but we hope that the 30 years day-for-day sentence that does not begin until he finishes a 19-year sentence will bring some closure and security to the victims and the community, ” Parker said.
