Man pleads guilty to 2006 rape

An Anne Arundel County man pleaded guilty yesterday in the May 2006 rape of a Kenyan woman who was visiting her daughter at her home in Russett, the county state's attorney office said.

Cortlandt Harvey Dorsey, 21, of the 7900 block of Orion Circle in Laurel has been held at the county detention center on charges of first- and second-degree rape, assault and burglary since Sept. 13, 2006, when he was arrested.

Authorities linked Dorsey to the rape through a voluntary DNA sample he provided, which matched evidence recovered from the scene, according to charging documents.

About noon May 2, 2006, a man followed the 56-year-old woman as she walked from a Wal-Mart in Russett to her daughter's home, according to charging documents. The man kicked in the front door and carried the woman to a bedroom, where he raped her.

He then demanded money from the woman, who had been in the country for two days. She told him she did not have any, and he left.

Prosecutors plan to bring the Kenyan woman to the United States to testify at Dorsey's sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for Feb. 25 in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court.

Lawsuit makes brutality claim

A Baltimore woman filed a $40 million lawsuit Friday accusing a city police officer of breaking her son's jaw.

Sterling Clifford, a police spokesman, said his department had not been served with the lawsuit and therefore declined to comment on it.

In papers filed in Baltimore Circuit Court, Menyonde Lewis alleges that a police officer named Ray Woodward searched her son, Tevin James, on Jan. 23, looking for drugs. According to the suit, Woodward "struck the child in the face and fled the scene." Tevin, whose age wasn't given, "suffered several fractures to his jaw," according to the suit.

Woodward could not be reached for comment yesterday. Paul Blair, head of the police union, said he was unaware of the specifics of the suit.

"Every day, people are suing the city," Blair said. "Sometime during any officer's career, they will probably be sued. It happens. It is a country that likes to sue."

Annie Linskey

Officer gets probation for assaulting woman

A Baltimore police officer was sentenced to probation yesterday after being convicted of assaulting a woman during an altercation in Federal Hill last September, according to the city state's attorney's office. The officer, who remains suspended, was off duty at the time.

Judge Roger Brown found Officer Christopher Vallejo guilty of second-degree assault and then entered probation before judgment, according to police and prosecutors.

His unsupervised probation will last one year, officials said.

Baltimore police spokesman Sterling Clifford said Vallejo, 31, remains suspended until his review by the Internal Investigation Division and possible disciplinary action.

According to court records, Vallejo was arguing with a woman about 2:30 a.m. Sept. 14 at Cross and West streets in Federal Hill when Debora Kim Akins walked by and asked the woman if she was OK. Akins reported that the officer grabbed her and pushed her against a car.

The woman said she ran and flagged down a passing police officer.

It was then she learned that Vallejo also was a police officer, according to her statement to police that is in the court file.

Supervisors responded to the scene and issued Vallejo a criminal summons charging him with assault, Clifford said.