May 16, 2012 2 min read

A homeless man convicted of raping a Uniontown woman was sentenced on Wednesday to up to 16 ½ years in prison in that case, and any community he lives in after his release from prison will be notified of his crimes.

Herbert Dale Conaway, 45, was convicted of rape, simple assault and two counts each of aggravated indecent assault and indecent assault following a one-day trial before Fayette County Judge John F. Wagner Jr. last week.

Conaway, Uniontown police charged, was working with a then-22-year-old woman at a Habitat for Humanity location in the city when he forced her to the ground and raped her on Aug. 11. The victim, who said she lives in a personal care home and has bipolar disorder and Asperger’s syndrome, testified she was afraid of Conaway. She said she told her former boyfriend what had happened when she got back to her personal care home, and the woman in charge there called police.

Conaway testified in his own defense at trial, and said that the sex was consensual.

Under Wagner’s sentence, Conaway was ordered to serve 8 to 16 ½ years in behind bars for rape.

“The victim in this case, although age 22 and an adult, was somewhat mentally challenged,” Wagner said, in handing down the sentence.

For more information, read Thursday’s HeraldStandard.com.