News

Former city resident charged in 2005 sex abuse case

Jerry Franks

By Lightning Reports, Published: February 1, 2022

Investigators used a newly tested DNA sample taken after a sexual assault 17 years ago to arrest a former Hendersonville man on charges of sexual abuse of a child.

On Jan. 25 detectives with the Henderson County Sheriff's Office Major Crimes Unit with the assistance of the U.S. Marshal's Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested Jerry Dean Franks, 54, and charged him based on active warrants stemming from an investigation of a 2005 sexual assault case. DNA evidence linked Franks to the offense by using CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) which then led to identifying a suspect in the investigation, the sheriff's office said. Franks’ DNA was in CODIS due to previous criminal charge of a sexual related offense in South Carolina.

Enacted in 2019, the Standing Up for Rape Victims provided funding to have previously untested sexual assault evidence collection kits tested. The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office evidence technicians have been working diligently with North Carolina’s Criminal Laboratory and designated private laboratories in submitting and analyzing untested sexual assault kits after the SURVIVOR Act was passed.

Franks has been charged with one count of indecent liberties with a child and one count of sexual offense by a substitute parent. He was in custody in Pickens County, South Carolina. He waived extradition and was transported to the Henderson County Detention Facility, where he is being held on a $65,000 secured bond.