A convicted sex offender has been accused of raping a 60-year-old wheelchair-bound woman inside her Madison home.
The alleged attack happened Monday night at an apartment complex in Davidson County.
The woman told police she met 50-year-old Reginald Eugene Gregory as she was riding the bus home with her groceries. She told police he agreed to help her down the street to her residence.
The woman asked if Gregory would help her down the street since she had groceries but once they got to the doorway of her apartment police said he dumped her out of the wheelchair and began choking her with two hands before carrying her to her bedroom where he allegedly assaulted her.
She was able to call police after the attack. Gregory was picked up by officers in a parking lot on South Gallatin Pike a short time later.
"Its horrible, very sad," Diane Shlaufman said.
At the Greater Nashville Regional Council's office of Area Agency on Aging and Disability, staffers take hundreds of calls a day. "We do get seniors who are concerned," Shlaufman said.
Schlaufman is a division counselor and said those who are elderly or disabled need to be extra cautious when talking to strangers.
"They grew up in a time where it was expected to help a stranger and for a stranger to help you. That is not the world they live in anymore," she said.
She wants people to take notice if a stranger doesn't respect your personal space. "If anyone is too friendly than that's probably not a good idea," she said.
Gregory was arrested after officers found him on South Gallatin Pike. He was charged with aggravated rape and held on a $250,000.
Police said Gregory, who is under state supervision for life, was arrested for aggravated rape in 2012, was convicted of attempted rape, and received a six-year prison sentence.
According to investigators, he was also arrested for rape in 2003, was subsequently convicted of aggravated assault, and received a sentence of 10 years.
