Craigslist helps police make arrest in rape case

A man has been arrested and charged with raping a North Carolina woman in an attack allegedly arranged by the victim's husband on Craigslist, a classified ad Web site, police announced.

The online classified service helped authorities locate 39-year-old Rodney Liverman Sr. of Norwood and he was taken into custody at his home Friday, Kannapolis police said.

Liverman is charged with first-degree rape and three other sex offenses and remains in jail on a $250,000 bond, police said. His first court appearance is scheduled for Monday.

The U.S. Secret Service also helped track Liverman, but Kannapolis Police Capt. Chuck Adams said he would not provide details of how investigators linked Liverman to the case.

Adams did not know if Liverman has an attorney and a phone listing for him could not be found.

The attack occurred on May 31 at a home in Kannapolis, about 40 kilometers northeast of Charlotte. Police said a man entered a home with a knife and went into the woman's bedroom, demanded money and ordered her to take off her clothes before raping her.

The victim's husband was also in the room and backed away, watching the attack, investigators said.

At one point, the woman managed to grab the knife the suspect had put on the bed and threw it toward her husband, who did nothing to stop the attack, police said.

After the rape, the suspect told the woman to go into a bathroom, according to police documents. After the attacker left, the husband told his wife to take a shower and not call police, the documents added.

The husband was charged earlier with first-degree rape and remains in jail on a $200,000 bond. The Associated Press does not generally identify victims of sexual assault and is not naming the man to avoid identifying his wife.

Records show the husband pleaded guilty to indecent exposure for exposing himself last year to a pizza delivery woman in Virginia and received a 30-day suspended sentence.