Man Found Guilty in CVS Kidnapping, Rape Case

A Cobb County jury found a Cobb man guilty on Tuesday of kidnapping a woman from an Austell CVS and raping her.

Darrious Mathis will be sentenced on April 9 after he was found guilty of kidnapping, carjacking, aggravated assault, weapons offenses and more in connection with the October 2011 incident in which Mathis forced the victim into her car and instructed her to drive to various locations in metro Atlanta where he raped her.

He also made her drive to various ATM locations around Atlanta and forced her to withdraw money from her accounts. Mathis could be sentenced to up to 70 years in prison next month.

In September 2013, a Cobb County judge had declared a mistrial after several days of deliberation.

At both trials, Mathis took the stand and his defense team said his good looks were an explanation as to why the sexual encounter had been consensual.

The then 24-year-old victim, however, described to the court the encounter in a much different fashion, saying she was abducted at gunpoint. Store surveillance video depicted the suspect crouching behind a nearby trash can as she entered the store, and then quickly approaching her when she exited the CVS, located at 800 East-West Connector

DNA and other physical evidence corroborated her account of the incident in which she was forced to drive around metro Atlana, including near Greenbrier Mall in southwest Atlanta, and he sexually assaulted her.