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Denzel S. Nichols, 26, of Columbia, was found guilty in June 2021 by a Lancaster County jury of raping a 14-year-old victim in March 2018 at a home on the 400 block of Estelle Drive in Lancaster, according to the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office.
The incident was reported in March 2020 and charges were filed in October 2020, authorities said.
Nichols, then 22, had met up with the victim and two other minors at Mountville Park, where they smoked marijuana and drank alcohol supplied by him, the DA's office said.
Nichols then digitally penetrated the teen as he drove the group to the Estelle Drive home, East Hempfield police previously said. When they arrived, Nichols raped the victim in one of the bedrooms after she had passed out, police said.
Nichols allegedly told one of the group members not to let the other in while the rape was taking place, the DA's office said.
When the victim, who did not remember the incident, asked what happened that night, he admitted to "having sex" with her via text and phone calls, authorities said.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Amy Muller, who said that Nichols had served his state prison sentence for his previous crime and had refused to complete sexual offender treatment.
Muller also stated he contacted the victim almost immediately after being released from prison, according to the DA's office. Lancaster County Judge Thomas Sponaugle imposed the sentence, citing Nichols' prior sex victims as justification in his decision.
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