DNA from recent rape leads to 30-year sentence for 1999 case

IRONTON, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man has been convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison for the 1999 kidnapping and rape of a 14-year-old girl after DNA evidence from a rape case last year connected him to the old case.

Fifty-five-year-old Frank Thacker, of South Point, was sentenced after the victim gave a statement Thursday in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court in Ironton, near the West Virginia state line.

The new sentence is added to the 27-year sentence Thacker received in a rape and kidnapping case last year. DNA in that case matched the unsolved 1999 case from South Point.

The Huntington Herald-Dispatch reports a defense lawyer sought leniency, noting Thacker uses a wheelchair and is in poor health. He indicated he will appeal.

A message seeking comment was left today for the attorney.