Jury delivers verdict for man accused of raping woman in Ferguson Township
A Ferguson Township man was convicted Thursday of breaking into a woman’s townhouse and raping her.
Nnaemeka Ani, 25, was found guilty of all charges at the end of a four-day trial. The jury deliberated for about three hours.
He was convicted of two felony counts of aggravated indecent assault, one felony count each of rape, sexual assault and criminal trespassing, and two misdemeanor counts of indecent assault.
“This case is what nightmares are made of,” Centre County Assistant District Attorney Megan McGoron told jurors during her closing argument Thursday at the Centre County Courthouse. “... This was a truly, truly horrific crime.”
Ani broke into the woman’s townhouse about 4 a.m. October 2017, Ferguson Township police wrote in an affidavit of probable cause.
A more than yearlong investigation found Ani’s DNA matched DNA collected from the woman during a medical exam and from her room.
“It’s important that survivors of sexual abuse know that if they come forward, they will be listened to and they will be heard,” McGoron said after the verdict was read.
Ani, who remains accused of breaking into several other Ferguson Township and State College buildings, is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 13.
He is detained at the Centre County Correctional Facility.
This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 4:02 PM.