Serial rapist gets 2 life sentences for attacks

A judge threatens to gag him after he insults victims during his sentencing.

By DONG-PHUONG NGUYEN

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 28, 2001

TAMPA -- A convicted serial rapist was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison on Monday by a judge who threatened to seal his mouth with duct tape because he called his victims nasty names and made obscene gestures toward them during the proceeding.

Michael Antonio McNeair, 22, was sentenced for two of four sexual attacks he committed between October 1999 and December 2000.

While his victims urged the judge to impose the maximum sentence, McNeair shouted at them, calling them "slut" and "liar," prosecutor Michael Sinacore said.

McNeair also gestured repeatedly at them, prompting Judge Jack Espinosa Jr. to threaten to gag him. McNeair talked with his attorney, agreed to stop insulting the women, and the proceeding resumed.

The victims were raped at knifepoint by an intruder who broke into their apartments through sliding glass doors and windows in the middle of the night. The rapes occurred within a 2-mile radius of Sligh Avenue and 56th Street.

McNeair had stalked some of his victims for more than a week and threatened to harm the women if they did not cooperate.

One of the victims helped identify McNeair after he called her home from his residence at 1702 E Osborne. The woman got his phone number from her Caller ID and notified police.

McNeair was arrested on Feb. 17 after leading officers on a short chase through downtown in a stolen car.

Police found McNeair driving a maroon Mazda near Brorein and Tampa streets and pursued him to Nebraska Avenue and Washington Street, where he jumped out of the car and was captured. The car had been reported stolen four days earlier.

McNeair went on trial for four rapes over the past month. In one case, he pleaded guilty in the middle of the trial, and in another, he was sentenced to a year and a day, Sinacore said.

As the victims walked out of the courtroom Monday, McNeair yelled that he would be back for them.

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