Rape suspect already a convicted rapist February 20, 2010
Norman Miller 508-626-3823 Metrowest Daily News
FRAMINGHAM -- Police said a Framingham man cut off his electronic monitoring ankle bracelet Thursday and attacked, kidnapped and raped a woman - just two months after finishing an eight-year prison sentence for rape.

Judge Sarah Singer ordered William French, 29, held without bail at his Framingham District Court arraignment yesterday pending a hearing to determine if he is a danger to the public.

Details of the case were not discussed in court, but Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said in a statement that French cut off his monitor Thursday at about 11:25 p.m.

At 11:45 p.m., police began searching for French to arrest him for cutting off the monitor. They found him, along with the victim, just after midnight.

French was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated rape, assault and battery, unarmed robbery, kidnapping, armed burglary and assault, threatening to commit a crime and intimidation to steal from a depository.

"This is a terribly disturbing case," Leone said. "We allege that this defendant's chilling actions occurred only weeks after he was released from prison for a 2001 rape conviction and just days after he was placed on GPS monitoring by the Probation Department for a probation violation."

French was convicted on Jan. 24, 2002, of aggravated rape, entering a building without breaking, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery.

On Aug. 2, 2001, French broke into a third-floor apartment in downtown Framingham. They say he walked in through an unlocked door, told a woman he had a gun, hit her in the head and then raped her while the woman's daughter slept in the next room.

French was later found because he left behind his pants and a CD with his fingerprint on it.

French pleaded guilty in Middlesex Superior Court and was sentenced to eight to nine years in prison.

The district attorney's office said French was released from prison in December.

He was placed on a GPS monitoring bracelet on Tuesday after failing a random drug test, which was a condition of his probation. He was supposed to wear the bracelet for one year.

In court yesterday, French hid beneath a blanket throughout his arraignment. Although no details of the case were discussed, prosecutor Sarah Fallon asked for him to be held without bail for the dangerousness hearing.

"There are no conditions of his release that will ensure the safety of the victim or the public," she said.

French's lawyer, Marc Finkel, did not argue against holding French for the dangerousness hearing.

French will be held at the Middlesex Jail until Thursday's hearing.

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