Newnan man charged with Senoia rape of PTC woman

A Newnan man was arrested Aug. 18 on charges of raping a Peachtree City woman at a Senoia residence earlier that day.

Benjamin Gray, 28, was charged with rape, according to Senoia Police Det. Jason Ercole.

Ercole said Senoia officers at 3:16 a.m. on Aug. 18 responded to the FlashFoods convenience store located on Ga. Highway 16 in reference to a reported rape. The 27-year-old female victim told officers that she had been raped while attending a gathering at a residence in Senoia. The victim identified Gray as the suspect.

The victim was transported to Piedmont-Newnan Hospital where forensic evidence was collected by medical and law enforcement personnel, Ercole said. 

Ercole said Senoia detectives responded to the residence where the alleged rape occurred and met with the homeowners who were asleep when the attack occurred. The homeowners cooperated with authorities and gave them consent to gather evidence from the room where the alleged attack occurred, said Ercole. 

Detectives gathered several items of evidentiary value for later submission to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for analysis, Ercole added.

”Through statements made by the victim, the homeowners and evidence collected at the scene, detectives believed that they had enough probable cause to establish that a crime of rape did in fact occur,” Ercole said. ”Detectives obtained an arrest warrant charging Mr. Gray with rape and located him at his home in Newnan later that same day.”

Ercole said once Gray was in custody, detectives obtained a search warrant for his DNA with the intention of submitting it to the GBI Crime Lab for comparison with other items collected by authorities. After the DNA collection was completed, Gray was turned over the Coweta County Jail for booking, said Ercole.