BY SUSAN VELA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BURLINGTON -- With his hands and ankles in chains, a 44-year-old convicted rapist claimed he was innocent of a recent rape as he was escorted Thursday night into the Boone County Police Department.
Investigators say Franklin R. Roark Jr. of Butler raped a 55-year-old woman in her Curley Court home Sunday. They also say they have linked him to a Sept. 17 rape in Fort Wright and an Oct. 15 rape in Pendleton County.
He is to be arraigned this morning in Boone District Court on first-degree charges of rape, burglary and robbery in Sunday's incident. He also will face charges of being a persistent felony offender.
Today, Kentucky State Police say they will charge Mr. Roark in Pendleton County with another count of first-degree rape.
Charges from the Fort Wright Police Department are to follow, said Lt. Jack Banks of the Boone County Police Department.
Mr. Roark was being held Thursday night in the Boone County Detention Center in lieu of $1 million bond.
He previously served 21 years in prison for at least four rape convictions and burglary incidents.
Similarities in the three recent rapes led investigators from Boone County, Fort Wright and Kentucky State Police to Mr. Roark as a suspect.
In both the Curley Court and Fort Wright incidents, the victims returned to their homes to find the rapist already inside.
Mr. Roark will face two counts of first-degree burglary today. One is from the rape. The other is from a burglary at another Curley Court home.
No one was home in that incident.
