Former St. Louis athlete gets 540 years in prison

Associated Press

ST. LOUIS -- Calling the sexual attack ''the most heinous I have seen,'' a judge Friday sentenced a former St. Louis collegiate football player to more than five centuries behind bars in a 2002 home invasion and rape.

''Heinous crimes deserve harsh punishment,'' the St. Louis Post-Dispatch quoted St. Louis Circuit Judge Margaret Neill as saying in sentencing former Washington University running back Bobby Collins Jr. to 540 years in prison.

Jurors last month convicted Collins of kidnapping, two counts of forcible rape, four counts of forcible sodomy, attempted forcible sodomy, burglary, robbery and 10 counts of armed criminal action.

Authorities said Collins broke into the home of a St. Louis woman between 4 and 5 a.m. on March 17, 2002, then held her at gunpoint and threatened to kill her. Collins tied her up, then beat and sexually assaulted her for 30 to 90 minutes, wearing latex gloves but refusing to wear a condom despite the victim's request, a prosecutor said.

Collins was implicated after a DNA sample he gave during the investigation of an unrelated robbery matched samples taken from the rape.

In the robbery case, Collins still faces two counts apiece of first-degree robbery and armed criminal action.

Collins, who spent about three years in prison on a 1994 federal crack cocaine-dealing charge in Colorado, also faces aggravated robbery and sexual assault charges in a Denver case after his DNA allegedly matched a sample.

Collins amassed 1,000 rushing yards on Washington University's football team in 2001 before dropping out of school in May 2002. Police arrested him in August 2003.