A homeless man being sought for rape was given access to the hotel room by a man who met the victim online.
Phillip Ryans, 35, is being sought for Sunday’s rape of the victim at the Scottish Inn on Gordon Highway in Augusta.
Authorities say the victim had met another man online, and she rented a room at the hotel. She had sex with the man, who then left to go to the store. That man allegedly knew Ryans and saw him and offered the suspect the room key, telling him the woman in the room might want to have sex with him, too.
But, according to authorities, Ryans entered the room, and the victim declined his advances, pushing him away. So the suspect allegedly threw her on the bed, struggled with her and then sodomized and raped her.
Ryans then fled. He is wanted for rape as well as aggravated sexual battery, aggravated sodomy, false imprisonment and burglary. No charges have been filed against the other man who gave him the hotel room key.
Ryans is a convicted felon with multiple convictions for dealing drugs. He was arrested in September for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and later released on bond.
Ryans is known to frequent the Deans Bridge Road and Gordon Highway areas. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact Investigator Stephen Brown or any on-call investigator with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office at 706-821-4848 or 706-821-1020.
