MACON, Ga. — A Macon neighborhood is shaken up after a 79-year-old woman said she was sexually assaulted in her home. Sabrina Burse found out what resources are available for victims.
On Saturday afternoon, Bibb County deputies responded to a home on Buford Place after a call about a sexual assault.
"Deputies made contact with a 79-year-old victim," said Sergeant Linda Howard with the Bibb County Sheriff's Office.
An incident report from the Bibb County Sheriff's Office says the woman said a teenager "she recognized from the neighborhood from selling candy knocked on her door."
When she went to the back of the house to get some money for the teen, she says he forced his way into the house, pushed the woman on the couch, and sexually assaulted her.
Sergeant Howard says investigators interviewed the teen as a person of interest and collected evidence to verify it was him.
Dee Simms with the Crisis Line and Safe house of Central Georgia says they've had 16 sexual assault examinations at the Bibb County and Houston County centers this month combined.
"That's a trauma that arguably is the worst thing that has ever happened to someone, and we are there to help them make it through that process," said Simms.
She says their team provides therapists, advocates, and a safe shelter for domestic violence and sexual assault victims for free.
"It's a life-changing event to experience a sexual assault and we want to get them on that road to healing as quickly as possible," said Simms.
Simms says there have been about 100 sexual assault cases reported to the crisis line so far this year.
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