A Walker County, Georgia, jury convicted a man of multiple counts of child rape and possession of child pornography during a three-day trial this week.
Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Assistant District Attorney Chris Arnt said that 7- and 8-year-old girls told investigators that Ollie Lester Grimes raped them multiple times over several years. Grimes' former girlfriend testified that she walked in on him committing the act on a girl. Arnt said investigators also found Grimes' phone and laptop "full of child pornography."
Ollie Lester GrimesIn all, Grimes was convicted of 27 counts, including aggravated sodomy, aggravated child molestation, aggravated sexual battery, rape, sexual exploitation of children and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Grimes will be sentenced in Walker County Superior Court at 9 a.m. on June 19. He faces a minimum sentence of life with the possibility of parole, Arnt said. If he receives that sentence, he will not be eligible for parole for 25 years. A judge also could sentence him to life without the possibility of parole.
Arnt said the case began on Jan. 3, 2017, when Grimes' girlfriend got out of bed between 10 and 11 p.m. to get a drink. On her way to the kitchen, she looked in a bedroom and saw Grimes standing near a bunk bed, raping an 8-year-old girl.
Grimes then grabbed his laptop and left the home, Arnt said. His girlfriend took the girl to a hospital, where investigators gathered a rape kit. They also gathered DNA evidence in the case.
Meanwhile, Arnt said, Grimes confessed the crime to his son. His son then told investigators. He then drove his father through Walker County and helped deputies find him to make an arrest.
When investigators searched his phone and laptop, Arnt said, they found child pornography. That included videos they believe Grimes recorded of the 7- and 8-year-old girls. A girl in one of the recordings wore a shirt that belonged to the 7-year-old girl. Arnt said the male voice in one of the videos sounded like Grimes, though he denied it was him.
Arnt said Grimes denied the crimes in his testimony this week, telling the jury that his accusers wanted to frame him.
The victims in the case also told investigators that Grimes made a 3-year-old girl perform oral sex on him. A female relative of Grimes' also testified that he molested her in the 1990s. Grimes pleaded guilty to child abuse and neglect in Hamilton County Criminal Court in 2001 for that case and received a three-year suspended sentence.
Arnt estimated the jury deliberated for about 20 minutes before convicting Grimes on Wednesday. Grimes' attorney, Randall Schonder, said his client plants to appeal the conviction.
When asked on what grounds Grimes would appeal, Schonder declined to comment.
Contact Tyler Jett at tjett@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476.