Prosecutors said Gary Diggs vanished as his latest rape trial neared its end.
FULTON COUNTY, GA — A man with a prior rape conviction is a fugitive after failing to return to a Fulton County courtroom before jurors convicted him in a 2017 Fairburn rape case, prosecutors said.
Gary Diggs was convicted in absentia of rape, false imprisonment, aggravated battery and a state sexual offender registry violation, according to prosecutors and public case records. Senior Judge David Emerson sentenced him as a recidivist to life without parole plus 60 years, turning a yearslong case into an active search for a man officials describe as dangerous.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said Diggs disappeared before sentencing after being released on a $100,000 bond while the case was pending. “Facing sentence and he is in the wind,” Willis said. She said she had contacted the Fulton County sheriff and asked that finding Diggs be treated as a priority. Fulton County Senior Assistant District Attorney Stacey Burke said Diggs failed to return to court as prosecutors were nearing the end of their case. Burke said the timing showed the seriousness of the risk. Diggs had represented himself during the trial, a move prosecutors said led to repeated courtroom problems before his absence.
Prosecutors said the victim was 19 and living in Louisiana when she met Diggs on the dating website Plenty of Fish. Burke said Diggs used another person’s photograph on his profile and made false claims about wealth, including claims that he owned two mansions in Atlanta. “They were never his, and they were not mansions,” Burke said. Diggs, then 52, brought the woman to Georgia, prosecutors said. When she realized she had been misled and tried to leave, Burke said, Diggs attacked her. Prosecutors said he strangled her, pushed her down a flight of stairs and had a kitchen knife. Deputy District Attorney Siri Patel said the woman had come to Atlanta hoping for a better life and was staying on her sister’s couch.
The case was tied to a 2017 indictment in Fairburn, south of Atlanta. Prosecutors said Diggs already had a 1995 rape conviction from Los Angeles County, California, when the Fulton County case moved through court. Public case data in Fulton County lists charges against Diggs that include rape, false imprisonment, aggravated battery, battery and a state sexual offender registry count. Prosecutors also pointed to a later Louisiana court docket from Terrebonne Parish with an offense date of Nov. 7, 2022, listing indecent behavior with a juvenile and a guilty plea. The full timeline of Diggs’ movements after leaving the Fulton County courthouse remains unclear, and officials have not publicly said where they believe he may be hiding.
Burke said she took over the case in 2025 and tried it with Patel. Despite Diggs’ absence, the trial continued, and jurors convicted him without him in the courtroom. Emerson then imposed the life without parole sentence and added 60 years because of Diggs’ status as a repeat offender, prosecutors said. Patel said Diggs’ conduct while representing himself was so disruptive that Emerson also sentenced him to 20 days for contempt, to be served after the trial. The contempt time remains separate from the longer prison sentence. If Diggs is arrested, he is expected to be returned to Fulton County custody to begin serving the sentence imposed after the verdict.
The case has placed new attention on the decision to release Diggs on bond despite his prior rape conviction. Prosecutors said the victim was young, far from home and misled by a dating profile before the attack in Georgia. Patel described the woman as someone who came to Atlanta with “hopes and dreams” and then became the center of a criminal case that lasted years. Willis said Diggs remains a threat while he is free. “But he’s dangerous,” Willis said. Officials have not announced a new court date tied to the fugitive search, and the sheriff’s office has not publicly detailed how many deputies or agencies are involved.
As of June 20, Diggs remained at large after being convicted and sentenced in Fulton County. The next milestone in the case is his arrest and transfer back into custody, where the life sentence and added prison terms would take effect.
Author note: Last updated June 20, 2026.