A 35-year-old man is being held in the Howard County Detention Center on charges of attempting to rape a 6-year-old Columbia girl Thanksgiving Day.
Howard County police arrested Mark Elbert Thomas, of no known address, Thursday afternoon, shortly after the girl's mother reported seeing him and her daughter exposed in her apartment in the Village of Wilde Lake.
District Judge R. Russell Sadler ordered Mr. Thomas held in lieu of $250,000 bail Friday. He is charged with assault, battery, assault with attempt to rape and third- and fourth-degree sex offenses.
The incident began while the girl was asleep in the back bedroom, and Mr. Thomas and the mother were talking in the kitchen as she cooked Thanksgiving dinner, according to court documents. Mr. Thomas lived at the apartment periodically and had slept there Wednesday night.
After Mr. Thomas left the room, the woman "noticed it was too quiet in the apartment" and decided to check on her daughter, the documents said. When she entered the bedroom, she told police, she found Mr. Thomas rubbing himself against her daughter.
The woman fled the apartment with her daughter and son and called police.
The girl later told police that Mr. Thomas had put his hand over her mouth and pulled her pants down, the documents said.
In an interview with police, Mr. Thomas did not deny having been exposed to the girl, the documents said.
Mr. Thomas said he and the girl had been playing and, when he tossed her into the air, her pants inadvertently fell down, the documents said. He said he then accidentally rubbed himself against her.
The next court date for Mr. Thomas has not been set yet.