news-record.com

RALEIGH (MCT) — An Apex teen was sentenced to more than 35 years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to the rape of a Cary woman and an attack on her and her husband.

Gavin John Clevesy, 18, pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual offense, first-degree rape, second-degree kidnapping, burglary and assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to kill in the attacks of Sept.27, 2008.

Wake Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway sentenced Clevesy to between 430 months and 552 months in prison and ordered him to seek mental health and substance abuse treatment.

His attorney, Thomas Manning, said his client could have spent life in prison.

''The whole thing was a tragedy," Manning said, "But the judge took it at all into account. It's a lengthy sentence, but he'll have a life. There's no joy in any of this."

Clevesy, of 311 Milky Way Drive in Apex, faced five felony charges, including first-degree rape and first-degree kidnapping, in the assault on the woman and her 67-year-old husband.

Clevesy had apparently been drinking at a party before walking through Cary's MacGregor Downs neighborhood just before 9 p.m., police said at the time of the assaults. He knocked on the door of the couple's home, and when the husband unlocked the deadbolt from inside, Clevesy kicked in the door. He began beating the man, police said.

Clevesy then assaulted the victim's wife, also in her 60s. The woman ran outside, but Clevesy chased her, beat her again and then raped her. He then began to drag her by a leg. As he did, a group of people who had been attending a nearby wedding reception grabbed the teenager and held him until police arrived.