DNA results have led to the arrest of a man suspected of committing a violent sexual assault of a tourist in February.
Thomas Singleton, 33, was charged with first-degree rape and second-degree kidnapping in the two-count indictment handed up Aug. 29 by an Orleans Parish grand jury.
Singleton, 33, faces a mandatory lifetime prison sentence if convicted of the rape charge, and 5 to 40 years if found guilty of the kidnapping count.
Singleton is alleged to have preyed upon a 52-year-old woman visiting from Texas. The woman told police that while her partner was gaming at Harrah's New Orleans casino, she decided to take a walk between 3-and-4am.
The victim was able to complete part of a hospital sexual assault kit examination before being taken into surgery. A swab of her neck provided a DNA sample that returned a match to a sample of Singleton's that was stored in the national CODIS (Combined DNA Indexing System) database.
Singleton was found jailed in Plaquemines Parish on unrelated charges after the CODIS hit was reported on March 23.
Confirmation of the DNA match from that sample to the one taken from the victim was reported by the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab in June.
