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Man pleads no contest in UW rapes

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A Dane County man was found guilty Friday of abducting and raping two female University of Wisconsin students in late 2006.

Antonio Pope, 31, pled no contest to two counts of kidnapping and two counts of first-degree sexual assault. He faces a sentence of up to 224 years in prison as a result of the charges — up to 46 years per kidnapping conviction and 66 years per sexual assault conviction.

Pope was originally arrested Dec. 15 of last year. According to court documents, after police confronted him with DNA evidence, Pope admitted to abducting and assaulting one UW student Nov. 29 as she was walking home on the 1500 block of Observatory Drive. He also admitted to abducting and assaulting another UW student Dec. 9 when she was walking home on the 500 block of North Carroll Street while talking on her cell phone.

Victims told Madison police Pope abducted them at knifepoint and threatened to kill them if they turned to look at his face. He then took the victims to his car, bound their hands and drove them to his Fitchburg apartment and assaulted them. He then returned the victims to the area where he originally abducted them.

Although Pope pled no contest to his charges, he wrote a letter last week to Dane County Circuit Court Judge John Markson, claiming he had no memory of committing the crimes because he was high on ecstasy. Pope has a history of drug-related problems, and was previously found guilty of possession of cocaine and THC in 1998 and again in 2005.

Pope claimed earlier this year he was not competent to stand trial. However, following examination at the Mendota Mental Health Institute, Markson found Pope competent in July.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.