Florida drifter given 30 years for brutal rape in Portland

PORTLAND – A drifter from Florida who was convicted of raping a Portland woman and then leaving her for dead in a wooded area in Portland’s Bayside neighborhood has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Brandon Drewry, 45, who was found guilty in December of kidnapping, gross sexual assault and threatening with a dangerous weapon, was sentenced Tuesday in Cumberland County Superior Court.

Justice Thomas Delahanty said Drewry’s attack on Aug. 31, 2004, was “one of the most serious [crimes] I have ever seen.”

In imposing maximum sentences for each of the crimes, the judge cited Drewry’s long criminal record and a probation officer’s assessment that he poses a high risk to reoffend.

During the trial, the victim testified she was out for a late-night walk when she met Drewry, who asked if she wanted to smoke marijuana with him. She testified that he later choked, beat and repeatedly assaulted her over a period of hours.

Prosecutors said that Drewry had been in Maine for only three days at the time of the attack and was staying at a shelter in the neighborhood.