GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — He went to prison for attacking civil rights icon Rosa Parks during a 1994 robbery, and now, Joseph N. Skipper is returning to prison for attacking a Grand Rapids woman during a New Year’s Day break-in.
Skipper, 54, said he was entering homes in Grand Rapids because he had housing issues. During sentencing on Monday, he mentioned the Rosa Parks assault.
Judge George J. Quist sentenced Skipper to between 10-25 years for two home invasions, including one in which a 74-year-old woman was assaulted.
It happened early Jan. 1 on Alpine Avenue near Leonard Street NW. The victim told Grand Rapids police she was in bed when she heard someone force their way into her home. She confronted the man, who then assaulted her and demanded money.
The woman gave the intruder $50 from her purse before he fled out the door.
Investigators determined the intruder got inside through a window which he had broken. Officers canvassed the neighborhood with a tracking dog but were unable to find the suspect.
Blood recovered at the scene was analyzed, and it provided a DNA match to Skipper. Skipper, who was already in the Kent County Jail for other break-ins, was charged with first-degree home invasion, a 20-year felony.
Skipper was initially charged with five Grand Rapids break-ins; he entered pleas in two cases and the others were dismissed. His history of breaking into homes allowed for a longer sentence.
Skipper gained notoriety for breaking into the home of Rosa Parks in August of 1994, hitting her on the face and robbing her of $53. A judge in Detroit sentenced him to eight to 15 years in prison.
He returned to prison in 2009 for a Wayne County break-in. Skipper was discharged from the Department of Corrections in August of 2019. He was arrested by Grand Rapids police five months later.
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