On November 7, District Attorney Leon Cannizarro’s office secured the indictment of a man accused of raping two West Bank women in separate incidents in November 2017.
Known locally as “K-9,” 40-year-old Kenneth Devore, was charged with two counts of first-degree rape, two counts of second-degree kidnapping and one count of aggravated second-degree battery in the indictment handed up by an Orleans Parish grand jury.
Devore faces a mandatory lifetime prison sentence if convicted of either rape charge, and 5 to 40 years on each kidnapping count.
The rapes Devore is accused of committing include the following:
Nov. 15, 2017: A 60-year-old woman who knew Devore as a casual acquaintance told police she visited his residence at the Forest Park Apartments around 3:30 a.m. and asked to use the restroom. Once inside, the woman said Devore tried to force her to smoke crack cocaine. When she resisted, having just gotten out of a drug rehabilitation treatment center two days earlier, she said Devore struck her in the face with both a closed fist and a gun, then raped her. The victim said she escaped only after Devore fell asleep. Police attempted to execute arrest and search warrants at the apartment on Nov. 30, but Devore could not be located.
Nov. 28, 2017: A 22-year-old woman who had just met Devore in a stairway of an apartment building in the 3700 block of Garden Oaks Drive, said she agreed to follow him into an apartment. Once inside, the woman said Devore grabbed her by the throat and forced her into a bedroom. He continued choking her, threatened her life and raped her. The victim said Devore later left the apartment, giving her the chance to escape.
A DNA sample collected from Devore and stored in the federal CODIS database (Combined DNA Index System) later was matched to samples taken from each victim during their sexual assault nurse exams.
