Ga. man convicted of raping 11-year-old 3 decades after he was convicted of rape as a 13-year-old

CARROLL COUNTY, Ga. — A Carroll County man has been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of molesting a child nearly three decades after being convicted of rape.

William Eric Vinson, 42, pleaded guilty on Monday to three counts of aggravated child molestation, two counts of statutory rape, two counts of child molestation, one count of aggravated sexual battery and one count of failure to register as a sex offender.

He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole followed by a consecutive 19 years in prison and a year of probation, meaning Vinson will not be eligible for parole until he’s served 30 years in prison.

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Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney Herb Cranford’s office says in February 2022, a 12-year-old girl told her teacher the Vinson began sexually assaulting her in 2021 after meeting her, grooming her with gifts and exchanging sexually explicit text messages with her when she was just 11.

She told investigators that Vinson threatened to kill himself if she ever told anyone.

While investigating, authorities learned that Vinson was no longer living at the address where he was registered as a sex offender.

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The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office says this is not the first time they have investigated Vinson for sex crimes.

In 1994, when Vinson was just 13, he was convicted of raping a 30-year-old woman.

She reported that the then-teenager knocked on her door, pointed a shotgun at her head and raped her in her home. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 15 years of probation. He was released on parole in 2007.

He was arrested again in 2012 after being convicted of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was released in September 2013.

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Vinson is currently being held in the Calhoun State Prison in south Georgia.

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