A man accused of a string of sexual assaults in Collin County dating back nearly two decades has been named a suspect in a 2003 incident in Arlington.
In January, Plano police said a DNA profile connected Jeffrey Lemor Wheat to a sexual assault cold case in 2011 and then linked him to three other attacks in Collin County dating back to 2003.
That DNA profile turned up as a match for a 2003 incident in Arlington where a woman reported she woke up to find a Black man standing over her wearing only a T-shirt over his face and socks on his hands. She said the man kissed her body and put a pillow over her face but that he left after she pushed him away.
A large portion of the arrest warrant was redacted and further details of the encounter are not clear.
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Swabs were taken where the man had kissed the woman's body, but due to technical limitations at the time a DNA match for the profile was not able to be obtained.
That DNA evidence was resubmitted and in 2018 they found that the DNA profile matched assaults being investigated in Corinth, Coppell and Plano.
In December 2020, Plano police told the Arlington police they'd identified a suspect in the assaults. In January, Plano police said they located Wheat in Crawford, Arkansas and placed him under arrest.
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Since that time, Wheat has been held in the Collin County Jail on $1 million bond facing two counts of sexual assault.
On March 8, the Arlington arrest warrants, with charges for burglary of a habitation and burglary of a habitation with the intent to commit sexual assault, were added with an additional $600,000 bond.
“On behalf of the Arlington Police Department, I am elated we can bring closure to the victim in this case,”Chief of Police Al Jones said. “We will never give up hope to fight for victims no matter how long it takes.”
It's not clear if Wheat has obtained an attorney.
