By JAMES MITCHELL
Sunday Times Newspapers
LINCOLN PARK — A bench trial Thursday ended with a guilty verdict on home invasion charges facing a suspected 52-year-old serial rapist.
Elmore Nichols will be sentenced on March 1 by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Vera Massey Jones, at which time a final conference will be held for additional charges including criminal sexual conduct and assault.
Nichols was taken into custody in July after a 64-year-old Lincoln Park woman alleged that he broke into her Electric Avenue home and attempted to rape her.
Once in custody, Nichols was determined to be a registered sex offender with a criminal history dating back to a 1981 rape conviction. He was identified in December as a suspect in several reports from Southgate and Oakland County.
Additional charges included receiving and concealing stolen property; police found numerous credit cards in Nichols’ vehicle belonging to other people.
In December Nichols was found innocent by Jones after a week-long bench trial for home invasion charges and four counts of criminal sexual conduct from Southgate. A first-degree home invasion charge will be finalized during next month’s final conference.
Nichols remained in custody on $1 million bond pending sentencing and subsequent trial.
(James Mitchell can be reached at [email protected])