The Ravens security director accused of groping a team employee at M&T Bank Stadium pleaded not guilty to assault and offense charges in Baltimore City Circuit Court on Thursday and awaits a trial slated to begin in two months.
Darren Sanders, a retired Baltimore police detective, stood silent as his attorney Andrew Alperstein requested a jury trial on his behalf. Sanders has been charged with second-degree assault and fourth-degree sexual offense. Judge Michael A. DiPietro ordered the trial to begin in court on May 12.
Sanders was charged in December after a 34-year-old woman who works for the Ravens' cleaning crew accused him of groping her buttocks, kissing her neck and trying to make her touch his genitals.
Sanders was initially charged with fourth-degree sexual offense and the state added the second-degree assault charge when the case moved from district court to circuit court.
Second-degree assault, a misdemeanor, carries a maximum penalty of 10 years. Fourth-degree assault has a maximum penalty of a year in prison. Last month, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said that the Ravens would wait until the investigation is complete before making a decision on Sanders' status.
Sanders was among Ravens officials mentioned in an investigation into the Ray Rice domestic violence case. The investigator, former FBI director Robert Mueller, said that the Ravens obtained information about the case that they should have shared with the NFL; Sanders, the investigation said, received details of the video footage from the Atlantic City Police Department.