Police in Flint, Michigan, fear a suspected rapist may have hundreds of victims dating back decades following the discovery of numerous videotapes inside his home.
Gilbert Conway, 60, was arrested in July on suspicion of the rape of six women between 2009 and 2018. He was later arraigned on a total of 77 charges, including first-degree criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping.
As part of the investigation, police seized more than 500 video cassettes from his home that allegedly contained scenes of rape, reported WEYI-TV.
Investigators are now working on converting the Hi8 tapes, typically used in camcorders in the 1990s, to a modern digital format in order to examine them.
The Flint Police Department and FBI agents will examine the footage once they have been converted. Detectives fear the tapes could prove that Conway had potentially hundreds of victims.
"We believe he videotapes the sex assaults while he commits them," Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton told WEYI-TV.
"Once we view them, we are going to try and identify additional victims. We're going to try to reach out to those victims if we can identify them and we're going to try and take statements from them and see that they were victimized."
Leyton received approval from the Genesee County Board of Commissioners for the $15,000-$20,000 needed to convert the footage from video cassette to DVD. The money will be expensed from the county's general fund money.
Conway's lawyer, Archie Hayman, said he had not looked at the cassettes yet.
"As far as I know, Mr. Conway appears to be have been a hard-working individual with years of employment and a loving family man," Hayman said, reports NBC.
Prosecutors allege that Conway met his victims at bars and strip clubs. Dancers at Diamond Girls Show Bar in Flint, Michigan, where Conway is known to visit, said they were shocked by the allegations.
"We have a total of eight dancers right now and every single one of their hearts dropped when they saw his picture," Leeann Mallory, who had Conway as a regular customer, told ABC 12.
"All I could think about was my children. I'm a mother of five."
Conway denies all the accusations against him. He faces life in prison if convicted of the charges.
Police are urging anyone who believes they may have been a victim of the 60-year-old to come forward.
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