Miss. man arrested in kidnapping, rape

BOLTON, Miss., Nov. 11 (UPI) -- A Mississippi man has been arrested in the kidnapping, rape and aggravated assault of a 21-year-old woman, prosecutors say.

Ricky Franklin, 38, of Bolton, Miss., was being held on $300,000 bond in connection with a weekend rape of a woman at his mobile home, Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith told the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger.

The newspaper cited an affidavit saying the woman claims he picked her up in Jackson on Saturday night, drove her to a club in Bolton, then took her to his home, where he allegedly beat her with a bottle, choked her, tried to bite off her ear and raped her.

Court records indicate that a murder charge against Franklin in a woman's death last year was dropped because of a lack of evidence. A Mississippi jury in 2007 found him not guilty of aggravated assault on a woman two years earlier. Another aggravated assault case against Franklin, in which he was accused of stabbing a woman in 2006, was also dropped for lack of evidence, the Clarion-Ledger said.