NEWS

5 inmates accused in Rapides jail rape

Melissa Gregory
mgregory@thetowntalk.com, (318) 792-1807

Five Rapides inmates, including a 17-year-old charged in a recent beating death, now are facing rape charges after allegedly sexually assaulting another inmate, according to a release.

Five Rapides inmates, including a 17-year-old charged in a recent beating death, now are facing rape charges after allegedly sexually assaulting another inmate, according to a release.

The Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office had received a complaint on Aug. 21 from a victim who also was jailed at the Rapides Parish Detention Center 1, which is in downtown Alexandria at the Rapides Parish Courthouse.

The victim alleged that about five inmates had sexually assaulted him, according to a sheriff office's release. Two of the suspects are under 17, according to the sheriff's office.

"Detectives initiated an investigation and were able to establish sufficient probable cause, which supported the allegations of the victim," it reads.

Richard Edward Thomas Ambush

Warrants were secured for the suspects, and all of them were arrested and rebooked on the new charges. All remain in jail.

Charged were Richard Edward Thomas Ambush, 18, of the 1300 block of Elliott Street in Alexandria; Akeeley Keshawn Blade Jr., 17, of the 5400 block of Provine Place in Alexandria; and Keilon Tionne Norris, 17, of the 4900 block of Joseph Street in Alexandria. Ambush was charged with two counts of first-degree rape, while Blade Jr. and Norris each were charged with one count of first-degree rape.

Akeeley Keshawn Blade Jr.

Blade was charged in mid-August with three other teens in the beating death of a 55-year-old Lecompte man at the Motel 6 in Alexandria. He is scheduled to be arraigned on charges in that case — first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit second-degree robbery — on Friday. His bond on the rape charge was set at $750,000, but he currently is being held without bond on the murder charge.

Ambush was arrested in March 2015 with another then-juvenile after the body of a man was found in the City Park area in Alexandria. He was charged as an adult in that case and indicted on a second-degree murder charge.

Keilon Tionne Norris

Also in mid-August, Norris was charged by the Alexandria Police Department in a string of residential burglaries, according to a Town Talk article.