On Tuesday, 51-year-old Jeffery Wheat, a man who assaulted women in Tarrant, Dallas, Denton, and Collin counties, was given a life sentence in prison.
Wheat had pleaded guilty to four home invasion sexual assaults between 2003 and 2011.
The sentence stemmed from the first case which was a September 2003 sexual assault that happened in Arlington.
A woman had stated that Wheat had made entry into her residence in the middle of the night, wearing only socks and a shirt covering his face. He then sexually assaulted her, the victim said.
In 2018, many years following the assault, evidence collected from the scene was tested again for DNA. That’s when a link was discovered with the Arlington case and similar occurrences in Plano, Coppell, and Shady Shores in 2010 and 2011.
Those occurrences all involved women of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.
Authorities think that he aimed to victimize the women in their sorority alumni group. Thus, from the beginning of the investigation, Wheat was named the “Sorority Rapist,” by police and some media outlets.
His victims had been in their 50s and 60s.
In 2021, Wheat was apprehended in Crawford County, Arkansas. Then, additional DNA evidence tied him to the North Texas cases.
On Tuesday, three of the survivors were in court and delivered victim impact statements.
