Suspect in real estate agent's attack to be tested for STDs

Michael Edward Sleeman, 33, of 5912 Holland Farms Way, was indicted Tuesday on an attempted first-degree rape charge in addition to the first-degree sexual offense and first-degree kidnapping charges he faced after his Sept. 6 arrest.

Sleeman is being held in the Wake County jail under a $2 million bond.

Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby said STD tests are fairly common in criminal cases involving alleged sexual conduct. The tests are done primarily to provide victims with information about any potential health concerns.

Police said Sleeman asked the agent to see homes in the West Lake community, which is under development off West Lake Road in Cary. After she showed him one home, he asked to see something smaller, and she took him to another home in the development, police said.

Once inside the home on Blue Thorn Drive, he pulled out a knife and attacked the woman, police. She told investigators that her attacker restrained her and threatened her, and she said he also told her he was a convicted sex offender.

The woman said she was allowed to leave in her car, and she called a friend, who called police because she was too distraught.

Sleeman pleaded guilty in Virginia in 2002 to aggravated sexual battery and was placed on probation. In North Carolina, he was arrested in 1998 on a charge of assault on a female and again in 2003 on a charge of soliciting for prostitution. Both of those charges were dismissed.