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Accused rapist charged in BR home invasion was previously convicted of attacking woman in Florida
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BATON ROUGE - A homeless man charged in a home invasion where a 75-year-old woman was raped at knifepoint was previously sentenced to 10 years in Florida prison for trying to strangle a woman.
In 2011, the Leon County Sheriff's Office reported that Conway Tullier was arrested after a deputy spotted him attacking a woman along a roadway. Tullier fled when he saw the deputy but was apprehended shortly afterward.
The 20-year-old victim told investigators at the time that she was walking from a nearby business when Tullier ran up behind her, wrapped a shoelace around her neck and tried to choke her. She said she tried to fight off Tullier with her shoes and pulled him into the roadway when she saw the deputy's car approaching.
At the time, deputies believed Tullier, who's from Baton Rouge, had been in the Leon County area for about a month.
After Tullier was convicted in that attack, he spent just under eight years in a Florida prison before being released in January 2020.
Arrest records show Tullier was then arrested earlier this month when a caretaker at the LSU Rural Life Museum found Tullier in his on-site home. The caretaker confronted Tullier and followed him until officers arrived to take him into custody. He was released two days after that.
Less than a week later, a woman found Tullier inside her bathroom wearing a ski mask and armed with a kitchen knife.
The attack happened about 9:30 Tuesday morning in a neighborhood of older homes near Essen and I-12.
The 75-year-old victim told deputies she was forced to perform sex acts until Tullier eventually fell asleep in her bed.
The woman escaped and called for help while Tullier was unconscious. Deputies found him asleep in the victim's bed and booked him on charges of first-degree rape and home invasion.
Neighbors who are now on edge, say they just want to make sure he stays in jail so this doesn't happen again.
"He needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This is not acceptable," said neighbor, Joseph Wilson.
Tullier is currently being held without bond at the East Baton Rouge jail.
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