Crime

Man who kidnapped Southwest High student in 1994 now accused of raping Macon teen

A Macon man accused of sexually exploiting and raping a teenage girl and then threatening to post pictures of her on the internet was jailed Monday after investigators searched his house, Bibb County sheriff’s officials said.

Derrick Dewayne Sallette, 52, of 661 Old Lundy Road, was arrested on charges that include sex-trafficking, sexual exploitation of a child, rape and child molestation.

He was being held without bond at the Bibb jail.

Sheriff’s officials said in a statement sent to local news outlets that Sallette’s alleged crimes began in 2016 when the girl was 14 and lasted on into 2018.

“It was reported that Sallette would take the female to local hotels and would photograph and sexually assault her,” the statement said.

The authorities were recently notified after Sallette “threatened to post past pictures of (the girl) on the internet if she would not allow him to take more pictures of her,” the statement added.

Sallete was released from state prison in 2007 after serving a 12-year sentence for kidnapping a 15-year-old Southwest High School student at gunpoint.

In that case, authorities said the victim, an apparent acquaintance of Sallette’s, was abducted after her mother dropped her off at school in September 1994.

The Telegraph reported at the time that investigators said Sallette told them he was high on crack cocaine and that he had taken the girl to the Ambassador Inn motel on Hartley Bridge Road where he tried to rape her.

The girl, however, escaped.

Salette was convicted of kidnapping the next year.

Investigators at the time praised the 15-year-old victim for “keeping her cool and being able to get away. ... It could have been a lot worse.”

Joe Kovac Jr.
The Telegraph
Joe Kovac Jr. writes about local news and features for The Telegraph, with an eye for human-interest stories. Joe is a Warner Robins native and graduate of Warner Robins High. He joined the Telegraph in 1991 after graduating from the University of Georgia. As a Pulliam Fellowship recipient in 1991, Joe worked for the Indianapolis News. His stories have appeared in the Washington Post, the Seattle Times and Atlanta Magazine. He has been a Livingston Award finalist and won numerous Georgia Press Association and Georgia Associated Press awards.
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