A man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman at a Main Street laundromat was taken into custody without incident Wednesday afternoon.
Columbus Police Investigator L.C. Cockrell said a woman in her 30s was drying clothes at the Double S Laundry, located at 2007 Main St., between 7:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, when Myron Kashif Sewell, 23, entered the laundromat armed with a handgun.
According to Cockrell, Sewell demanded money from the victim, then forced her against her will into the laundromat bathroom and sexually assaulted her. She did not know her assailant.
Officers engaged in a foot chase with Sewell Tuesday afternoon around Railroad Street and Military Road, but he managed to evade them, Cockrell said.
Sewell was apprehended at 11 a.m. Wednes-day after police surrounded his home at 428 Idlewild Road, Cockrell said. Sewell exited the house and was arrested without incident. He was charged with armed robbery, kidnapping and sexual battery.
Sewell was from another state, which Cockrell declined to name, but he said Sewell had moved to Columbus at an undisclosed date. Sewell had no prior charges, Cockrell said, and there had been no previous incidents at the laundromat where the assault took place.
Sewell is currently being held at the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center. His bond will be set at 1:30 p.m. today.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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