A Gary man was sentenced to 25 years Thursday after he admitted raping a woman inside her apartment early on New Year’s Eve 2021.
Keontrell Gill, 20, pleaded guilty in August to Level 1 felony rape. The plea deal called for a 25-year sentence. He must also register as a sex offender.
Defense lawyer Maryam Afshar-Stewart said the deal was “heavily negotiated.” Gill accepted responsibility early on and had “tremendous remorse and regret.”
Deputy Prosecutor Keith Anderson said it was a fair deal and asked a judge to accept it.
Gill said in court that he accepted responsibility and wanted to move forward, “do my time and pay for what I did.”
It was a “horribly violent act,” Judge Salvador Vasquez said. He accepted the plea.
Presentencing paperwork said Gill had a “debt to pay,” “no excuses” and took responsibility, the judge noted.
“I hope you mean it,” Vasquez said.
Court records allege he offered the older woman $120 to not call the police. The woman told officers she heard a noise from her spare storage bedroom between 7 and 7:30 a.m. Dec. 31, 2021. A man later identified as Gill crawled in through an unlocked window, charges state.
Frightened, the woman asked what he was doing there. When she tried to leave her apartment, he grabbed her, then punched her in the face, charges state.
“I just want sex,” he told her, according to court documents.
He forced her to perform a sex act twice, then told her to get on the bed and raped her, the affidavit states.
When Gill offered to pay her to stop her from calling the police, the woman agreed to get him out of the apartment. She replaced the screen on her window and called 911, documents said. Police arrived minutes later and arrested Gill when he returned with the money.
He later admitted raping her, documents said. He claimed he was “drunk” and tested various windows in the complex to see which one was open.
Gill told police he climbed into another apartment with a couple napping with a child in the living room, claiming to be a “building coordinator,” then left, charging documents said.
That case was dismissed as part of the plea, due to “evidentiary issues,” Afshar-Stewart said.
mcolias@post-trib.com
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