A New Lexington man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for raping a woman after offering her a ride and later impersonating a sheriff’s office employee.

Thomas Unger, 28, appeared before Judge Kelly Cottrill Monday afternoon for sentencing and repeatedly accepted responsibility for his action but would not admit to his crimes.

Unger pleaded guilty to one count of rape, a first-degree felony, one count of abduction and one count of impersonating a peace officer, both third-degree felonies, in February.

Before handing Unger his sentence, Cottrill referenced notes from the pre-sentence investigation stating that Unger had told the person conducting the investigation that he received both a Silver Star and a Purple Heart and went as far as offering to show the person a bullet wound on his side.

Cottrill read from the accounts of a man in the Army from South Zanesville that received a silver star for his selflessness in putting himself in the line of fire to save his fellow soldiers.

“That’s what it takes to get the silver star, did you do anything like that?”

Unger responded that he had misinterpreted the questions from the person conducting the investigation when he made those claims.

Cottrill then asked Unger to recount the evening he came in contact with the victim in the case as Unger claimed to not know who the woman was and denied raping her.

Unger described the evening stating the woman was dancing in the bar and “kissing on” people before she came up and began to dance with him, though no witnesses could support the Unger’s claim that the victim was kissing anyone at the bar. He later offered the woman a ride and she questioned if she could trust him. Unger said he told the woman he was friends with a person that worked at the bar, deeming him a trustworthy person, and escorted her to his Jeep.

It wasn’t until Cottrill said that Unger raped the woman after getting into his vehicle that Unger simply agreed.

Moving along in his file, Cottrill noted that Unger was married less than a year ago.

“So you raped this victim and a week later got married,” Cottrill questioned.

Unger agreed.

During Unger’s plea on Feb. 1, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Ron Welch stated that Unger approached the woman at the bar during the night of April 8, 2018, and spoke to her as if he knew who she was, even mentioning things about her family.

After the woman accepted a ride from Unger, he drove for a short time before stating that he worked undercover for the sheriff’s office and informed the woman there was a warrant out for her arrest, Welch said.

The woman disagreed saying she didn’t have any warrants, to which Unger told the woman to engage in sexual activities with him or he would take her to jail.

The victim told him to take her to jail.

Unger proceeded to pull the vehicle over and rape the woman before she unlocked the door and jumped from the vehicle, Welch said.

Due to his guilty plea, Welch said the State agreed to not pursue additional charges against Unger for three other potential victims.

In addition to his 15-year sentence, Unger is required to register as a Tier III sex offender for life with in-person verification every 90 days. He was also ordered to pay $679 in restitution.

For more information on this story: Man who impersonated a sheriff’s office employee pleads guilty to rape