Man guilty of raping elderly Alzheimer's patient | Crime

MEMPHIS, TN- (WMC-TV) – A Memphis man has been found guilty of a despicable crime, raping an elderly woman who suffered from Alzheimer's.

Marco Blanch only lived a few blocks away from his victim, an elderly woman who had no idea a rapist was just outside her bedroom door.

A helpless senior citizen with Alzheimer's had no idea a rapist was making himself at home inside her South Memphis house.

On Thursday, a jury convicted 29-year-old Marco Blanch for raping a 79-year-old woman who was lying in her bed when he entered her home on February 3, 2011.

Blanch's defense in court was that the sex was consensual.

But prosecutors said the elderly victim had no idea what was happening when she was sexually assaulted by Blanch, whose criminal record includes a prior domestic assault conviction.

Prosecutors say Blanch took his time committing the crime.

He let himself into the house, sat down drank and drank a beer, smoked pot and watched an NBA game before going into the victim's bedroom and raping her.

Family members had already installed video cameras inside the house to keep an eye on the victim. Images of the crime weren't caught on camera, but there was audio.

Those incriminating sounds were heard by jurors who ultimately found Blanch guilty.

Blanch will be sentenced next month. The most he could serve is 12 years.

When he committed this crime he was already out of jail after serving time on a 2009 domestic assault conviction.

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