The Butte County Sheriffs Office has arrested an Oroville man for allegedly keeping a sex slave in his attic for two weeks.
The following is a press release from the Sheriff's office. Action News will have more on this story tonight:
On December 3, 2012 at approximately 1130 hours, Butte County Sheriff’s deputies went to 4615 Lincoln Blvd, Oroville to conduct a welfare check on an adult female (Confidential Victim). Deputies checked the residence and located Lawson Rankin (Age 29) from Oroville. Rankin denied seeing the female who was the subject of the welfare check. Deputies saw that Rankin was covered in drywall mud and saw an area in the kitchen that had been recently gone over with drywall mud and was still very wet. Deputies broke the seal and located the female victim inside the attic.
The female disclosed that she had been held against her will in the attic for approximately 2 weeks and that she was repeatedly assaulted sexually by Rankin. The victim also was suffering from minor injuries which she stated were from Rankin. Rankin was also the restrained party in a domestic violence restraining order issued in Butte County earlier this year.
Based on the initial investigation, Rankin was arrested for a parole violation, torture, false imprisonment, domestic battery, spousal rape, criminal threats, witness intimidation, and violation of a court order. Rankin was being held without bail in Butte County Jail, Oroville.
