Accused Serial Rapist Withdraws Guilty Plea

ROSWELL, GA — An Alpharetta man who planned to plead guilty to raping at least four women in Roswell changed his mind Thursday morning during a supplemental plea and arraignment hearing in Fulton County Superior Court.

Errol Alex Martinez at the Nov. 8 hearing withdrew guilty pleas to charges of rape, aggravated sodomy, aggravated assault (strangulation), burglary in the first degree, simple battery, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, false imprisonment, theft by taking and kidnapping.

Fulton County District Attorney Office spokesperson Chris Hopper said Martinez, 25, initially pleaded guilty to all charges outlined in the indictment, and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. However, after discussing the sentence with his lawyer, Martinez decided to withdraw his plea.

"The case will be set for motions and will proceed to trial," Hopper added.

Martinez was arrested by Roswell police in December 2016, a month after he allegedly broke into a woman's home and sexually assaulted her. Roswell police also believe was also behind an attack on a woman who was grabbed from the street and sexually assaulted during the early morning hours of Oct. 21, 2014.

Roswell police detectives worked the case of the October 2014 assault, and shared information with their counterparts in Norcross, as they were investigating an incident with the same modus operandi near a bus stop.

In November 2016, a woman called police to report her house had been burglarized, and she was raped inside the residence. That woman, Roswell police previously told Patch, told detectives she thought she knew the alleged attacker. Police were able to track down the suspect, identified as Martinez, and bring him in for questioning. Holland said he eventually confessed to the incident and similar attacks in the area.

According to the indictment, Martinez alleged ambushed the victims during all four attacks. In three of those cases, he broke into the victims home. The indictment also charges Martinez "violently assaulted and threatened all of the women into submission" before he committed the alleged rapes. Martinez also faces a rape charge in Gwinnett County for a separate incident, the Fulton District Attorney's Office added.

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Image via Fulton County Jail