BEDFORD COUNTY, TN — A Shelbyville man has been arrested following an investigation into a reported sexual assault that began on Wednesday. According to the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office, 52-year-old Jerry Leonard Winfrey of Hwy 64 West was taken into custody Thursday afternoon by Detective Sergeant Chris Brown of the Criminal Investigations Division.

Winfrey is facing four counts of Statutory Rape by an Authority Figure and four counts of Incest. The Shelbyville resident was booked into the Bedford County Jail at approximately 4:15 PM and is being held on a $300,000 bond.

This is not Winfrey’s first encounter with law enforcement. In 2017, he was accused of rape in Murfreesboro. That case, handled by the Murfreesboro Police Department’s Special Victims Unit, led to charges of rape and violation of an order of protection. In 2019, after legal proceedings, Winfrey entered a plea deal that dismissed the rape charge. He pled guilty to Aggravated Assault and was sentenced to six years in the Tennessee Department of Corrections, with a requirement to serve 30% of that time before becoming eligible for parole. He was also placed on supervised probation and required to submit a DNA sample.

The latest charges are part of an ongoing investigation by Bedford County authorities. Anyone with relevant information is encouraged to contact the Sheriff’s Office.

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