TYLER, Texas — A Tyler man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to tying a woman to a tree and raping her in the woods last year.
Michael Ray Timmons, 50, pleaded guilty in the 7th District Court Tuesday to aggravated kidnapping/sexual abuse, sexual assault and assault of a family or household member with a previous conviction.
Initially, Timmons turned down a plea offer of 45 years last October in prison. Prior to Tuesday's plea, he was on the docket for a potential jury trial.
He has been in the Smith County Jail since March 12, 2021 after a woman told police Timmons tied her up to a tree and sexually assaulted her.
In an arrest affidavit, a police officer wrote that the woman said he duct-taped her wrists to the tree and then raped her. She also said she was tied up with a blue rope and struck on the head with an object. At the scene, police found a broken broom handle with duct tape nearby.
The woman described Timmons as someone she dated for a few months, but their relationship ended when he “violently assaulted her” last year, the document stated.
She said she had moved away but started talking to Timmons a couple of weeks before the incident, according to the affidavit.
The document states the woman and Timmons were leaving an abandoned church when he struck her in the face with a candle and made her move to the wooded campsite, where they stayed for three days.
She told investigators Timmons did not allow her to wear clothes and “he began to abuse her and tell her that he was going to kill and burn her” in addition to threatening her family, the affidavit said.
According to the affidavit, after she was assaulted, she suggested they clean up and charge their phones. When they got close to a store, she ran from Timmons and into the store asked for help.
Timmons' criminal record in Smith County dates back to 1996 when he was sentenced to five years in prison for robbery and burglary. In 2003, he was sentenced to 10 years for stalking and assault causing bodily injury family violence (enhanced). In 2011, he pleaded guilty to the terroristic threat of a family or household member and was sentenced to just under a year of confinement, according to online judicial records.