Smart rape victim forced to call boyfriend, calls 911 instead

Police say quick thinking by the victim of a frightening abduction and assault helped them catch her attacker in the act.
The attack happened early Monday in the back of an adult entertainment store.

Officers say Robert Giles, 27, asked the victim to call her boyfriend so he could hear the assault.

Instead of calling her boyfriend, she called 911. Police say the savvy 911 operator also kept his wits about him and played along unbeknownst to the attacker.

“It was quick thinking on his behalf. In fact, (it) might have saved her life,” Clayton County police Maj. Joe Woodall said.

Officers say Giles kidnapped the victim from Hapeville and brought her to the closed Starship Novelties and Gifts store on Tara Boulevard around 4 a.m. Monday intending to rape her. That’s when he allegedly asked her to call her boyfriend so he could listen to the assault.

Rapist Robert Giles

Deonte Smith was the only man working as a Clayton County dispatcher early Monday, when that call came through and he played along.

The victim called 911 and told her attacker it was her boyfriend. The 911 operator, Deonte Smith, played along.

“She explained to him what the perpetrator had told her; that he was wanting him to listen while she was being raped,” Woodall said.

The operator tried to talk the attacker out of the assault and sent police. Police quickly arrived and say they arrested Giles in the act.

“They were able to stop it right then and there and snatched him right from the car,” Woodall said.

Smith told Channel 2 Action News on Tuesday he was just doing his job, but the timing of the call was crucial.

“Honestly I’d say divine intervention,” Smith said. “I was the only guy on the floor that night. The other guy we had had just left not too long before the call came in.”

Smith said the victim deserves credit for her quick thinking while being assaulted.

Giles now faces rape, false imprisonment and obstruction charges. Hapeville police are preparing kidnapping charges against Giles.