‘East Coast Rapist' Sentenced to Two Additional Life Terms

The man known as the East Coast Rapist was sentenced to two additional life terms Friday in Loudoun County.

That's in addition to the three life terms plus 80 years Aaron Thomas received from a judge earlier this month, for charges stemming from a Halloween 2009 attack on three teenagers who had gone out trick-or-treating in Prince William County.

The newest sentences come as punishment for a May 2001 rape and abduction at a Leesburg apartment complex.

Thomas pleaded guilty Nov. 29 to binding and raping a woman who had been moving out of her apartment.

"I'm elated," the victim said of the sentencing Friday. "It's a wonderful feeling to know that I get to look at him and see him in the courtroom. I understand that he didn't apologize for what he did, that he felt more sorry for himself. I was glad that I could be there and look at him, and know that I am stronger than he is."

She said she was speaking out on to help other victims, but that what Thomas did changed who she was.

Thomas also pleaded guilty in November to the Halloween 2009 attack.

He has admitted to raping several women from Rhode Island to Virginia over the course of two decades. He was arrested in Connecticut in March 2011 and was later extradited to Virginia.

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