Drug trafficking rapist who preyed on teenage girls in Inverness jailed

A drug trafficking rapist who preyed on teenage girls in sex attacks has been jailed for 11 years.

Adam Pentacost, 34, used force to commit a series of rapes involving two much younger victims during assaults in Inverness.

The judge ordered that Pentacost should be under supervision in the community for a further two years following his jail term.

During that time he will be on licence and can be returned to prison if he breaches its conditions.

Pentacost had denied a series of charges during an earlier trial but was convicted of two drugs crimes and five sexual offences.

During the trial he admitted being concerned in the supply of cannabis between June 2020 and August 2022 at an address in Inverness and elsewhere.

He also admitted being concerned in the supply of the Class A drug cocaine between January and August 2022.

He was convicted of having sex with a 15-year-old girl at a lane in the Highland city on an occasion between April and July in 2021 and subjected the victim to a rape after she was 16 the following year in Inverness.

The victim told the court that she was scared of Pentacost who had supplied her with drugs.

Pentacost raped his second teenage victim on three occasions at an address in Inverness between September 2021 and July the following year.

The court heard that police recovered cannabis and cocaine during a search of a property at Tomnahurich Street, in Inverness, where Pentacost was present.

Pentacost told the court he was a regular user of cannabis and after accepting he was supplying it and cocaine said: “It’s not something I am proud of.”

He said he got into debt and “got involved with the wrong sort of people”.

Pentacost was placed on the sex offenders’ register for an indefinite period following his sentencing.

Speaking after the sentencing, detective inspector Reuben Lindsay said: “Pentacost deliberately targeted teenage boys and girls, coercing them into consuming and dealing drugs and committing sexual offences against some of them, including rape.

“I hope this sentence gives his young victims and their families some kind of closure.

“Police Scotland is determined to trace those involved in sexual and drug crime and bring them to justice.

“When it comes to child exploitation, anyone wishing to report this kind of crime can speak to specialist officers at Police Scotland’s Children and Young Persons Intervention Team.

“Officers can be contacted via 101 or you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”