North Texas 'Sorority Rapist' sentenced to life in prison

A man who assaulted women in Tarrant, Dallas, Denton and Collin counties was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday.

51-year-old Jeffery Wheat pleaded guilty to four home invasion sexual assaults between 2003 and 2011.

Jeffrey Wheat

Wheat was sentenced in the first case, a September 2003 sexual assault in Arlington.

The victim told police a man broke in during the middle of the night, naked except for socks and a shirt over face, and sexually assaulted her.

In 2018, years after the assault, evidence from the scene was retested for DNA. The tests connected the Arlington case to similar incidents in Plano, Coppell and Shady Shores in 2010 and 2011.

Those incidents all involved members of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. 

Police believed he targeted women in their sorority alumni group. Wheat was dubbed the "Sorority Rapist" by police agencies and some media outlets early in the investigation.

The victims were in their mid 50s to 60s.

Wheat was arrested in Crawford County, Arkansas in 2021 and more DNA tests linked him to the North Texas cases.

Three of the survivors appeared in court on Tuesday and gave victim impact statements.