Texas serial rapist sentenced to life in prison – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

A serial rapist who terrorized former students at a North Texas fraternity more than a decade ago learned his fate on Tuesday.

Jeffrey Wheat, 52, pleaded guilty in a Collin County courtroom and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

DNA linked Wheat to four sexual assaults in Plano, Corinth, Coppell and Arlington. Three of the victims had a lot in common: They were Delta Sigma Theta sorority alumni, they were in their 50s and 60s, and all three had been brutally raped in their homes in 2011.

The fourth victim was a woman who was attacked in her Arlington home in 2003.

“You get to a certain age and these women thought they were safe in their homes, and they were raped,” said Cheryl Smith, publisher of Texas Metro News and alumnus of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

Since 2012, Smith says, she has been publishing memoirs about the case that have affected her personally and professionally.

“It was scary. It was frustrating. I was angry,” Smith said. “I didn't want people to forget.”

After the crimes, police collected video evidence of the suspect, made a sketch, and even had his DNA. However, the profile did not match anyone in the system, so the case was closed.

In 2018, two Plano Police detectives were assigned to the case after new DNA testing linked the same suspect to a 2003 rape case in Arlington.

“There were several times when they thought they were close to the suspect, but they never gave up,” said Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis.

Willis said detectives spent two years trying to find the suspect using forensic genetic genealogy.

“They found distant relatives there and from there they were able to narrow down the situation further and that's how they got him,” Willis said.

Wheat was arrested in 2021 for burglary of a habitation with intent to commit sexual abuse. He lived in Lexington, Mississippi, and was working as a long-haul truck driver at the time of his arrest. However, Willis said Wheat lived in the DFW area during the time of all four offenses.

According to investigators, he worked at a credit card processing company owned by the student association.

“He abused his position at this company and had access to sensitive information and he abused it in the most horrific way,” Willis said. “He's just a full-blown predator.”

On Tuesday, Willis said Wheat had pleaded guilty as part of a multi-county plea agreement coordinated by Assistant District Attorney Calli Bailey.

Wheat was sentenced to life in prison for cases in Collin and Tarrant County. In Dallas County, he was sentenced to 30 years for aggravated sexual assault.

“I wanted to scream, but then I felt like I was going to cry. I tried to balance everything because I felt sorry for the victims,” ​​Smith said.

Smith says she thinks about the case every day and is grateful the story now has an ending.