sexual assault

Reflecting national trend, former UMBC baseball players file defamation claims against woman who accused them of sexual assault

By Catherine Rentz

Jul 8, 2019

A security guard has been indicted in D.C., on charges of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl he was previously accused of groping.

A young man who says Kevin Spacey groped him in a Nantucket bar in 2016 has dropped his lawsuit against the Oscar-winning actor, his lawyer said Friday.

All Baltimore rape claims deserve thorough investigation, not just the ones allegedly involving a police officer.

Richard S. Barnes appeared via video screen with a public defender for a bail review hearing. The judge denied a bond request.

A bail review hearing Richard S. Barnes is underway, although police have so far filed no charges against the Lyft driver.

Toxic masculinity taught, learned and writ large under Friday Night lights and in drunken Saturday night parties ending in rape. All social media amplified.

By David Zurawik

Jun 13, 2019

The Maryland law took effect in July but is only now being invoked in cases moving through courthouses.

Police say Uber driver Joshua Robinson, 31, sexually assaulted a female passenger in his car Saturday night.

By Christine Condon

Jun 7, 2019

According to a police report, an Uber driver sexually assaulted his customer Saturday night.

By Libby Solomon

Jun 5, 2019

Some have suggested that the founder of WikiLeaks should be viewed as a heroic defender of press freedom and transparency. But Julian Assange is no hero.

The principal of a Maryland high school announced Tuesday that she is stepping down six months after a locker room sexual assault case raised questions about whether football players were adequately supervised and whether the attack was properly reported to police.

Two University of Florida students have accused former St. Frances quarterback Jalon Jones of sexual battery.

School officials in suburban Maryland will hire an outside firm to help in an investigation of reporting practices and supervision issues after a sexual assault case involving football players who allegedly attacked four of their teammates with a broomstick at Damascus High School.

McDonogh School administrators shared the details of the external investigation into the co-ed boarding school’s history of sexual assault allegations made against faculty members, dating from the 1940s to the mid-1980s.

By Lillian Reed

Apr 10, 2019

The Maryland General Assembly has passed legislation requiring testing of most rape kits and adding transparency to the process. The legislation requires forensic testing of evidence collected from a person who says they were a victim of rape, unless the victim does not consent to the testing.

By Scott Dance

Apr 5, 2019

The case of sexual assault in a JV football locker room rocked the high school of 1,300 students and the football-proud community of Damascus.

At his first Mayor and Common Council meeting as head of the Westminster Police Department, Chief Thomas Ledwell outlined his policing and public safety initiatives during a week in which a rape was reported at a public library and a trooper shot a man after he was stabbed.

Four years after Maryland lawmakers passed legislation requiring police to count untested rape kits, they are now discussing a proposal that would require authorities to test them.

By Catherine Rentz

Mar 6, 2019

A task for to look at procedures for sexual assaults in Baltimore County leaves hope that victims will be treated better by police.

For the second time in less than three years, Baltimore County officials say they will review the way police conduct sexual assault investigations following continued complaints about how authorities handle the cases.

By Alison Knezevich

Feb 25, 2019

A Maryland judge presiding over the sexual assault cases stemming from alleged broomstick attacks in a high school football locker room ordered a 15-year-old suspect’s case transferred to juvenile court, the second such move within a week in the case.

After a doctor who practiced in Westminster was found to have committed sexual misconduct, the Times reached out to local resources for sexual assault victims on how best to start a conversation about sexual misconduct by medical caregivers.

Anne Arundel County officials moved Tuesday to end the controversial practice of asking victims of sexual assault to waive their rights to an investigation.

The use of forms for sexual assault victims to sign away their rights to an investigation must stop.

More than 200 individuals have been asked to sign waivers that release police from investigations into their reported sexual assaults

By Catherine Rentz

Feb 19, 2019

Four teenagers have been arrested and charged in connection with a sexual assault on Feb. 6.

The prosecution of four Damascus High School football players accused as adults of sexually assaulting four teammates with a broomstick begins a critical phase Friday when a Maryland judge is expected to decide if Will Daniel Smith, 15, should be tried in adult court or be moved to juvenile court.

Baltimore County authorities seek dismissal of claims against them in class-action sexual assault lawsuit.

By Catherine Rentz

Jan 15, 2019

Austin Daryl Marquez, of Mount Airy, was charged with first-degree rape and related charges Sunday, Dec. 30.

A Laurel man has been found guilty in a September 2014 case in which prosecutors said he took a woman, who was impaired from alcohol, to his apartment and sexually assaulted her.

By Jess Nocera

Dec 19, 2018

Maryland prison officials are investigating an alleged sexual assault against a correctional officer Friday at the Patuxent Institution in Jessup.

By Luke Broadwater

Dec 14, 2018

Brian Keith Zorn, 33, of the 3200 block of Chestnut Street, has been charged with second-degree rape, third-degree sex offense, contribute to condition of child/delinquent, fourth-degree sex offense, second-degree assault and harassment, according to electronic court records.

Amid student angst, Johns Hopkins University revealed that it accidentally blocked 18 complaints of sexual misconduct between 2016 and 2018 because of a website problem.

By Catherine Rentz

Dec 7, 2018

The University of Maryland School of Medicine should bring in an outside expert to investigate case of research coordinator who has accused a surgeon and professor of sexual assault.

The number of untested rape kits in Maryland has nearly doubled since the passage of a law that requires law enforcement agencies to hang on to the kits for 20 years.

By Catherine Rentz

Dec 3, 2018

Four Maryland teenagers accused of sexually assaulting football teammates in a locker room were indicted Thursday by a grand jury, with additional conspiracy charges that line up with prosecutors’ contention that the suspects acted together during the alleged broomstick attacks at Damascus High.

The University of Maryland School of Medicine planned to announce a sweeping initiative Friday that aims to change the culture in the venerable institution that took a public bruising recently from allegations that officials there failed to consider the poor treatment of women.

By Meredith Cohn

Nov 30, 2018

Baltimore County government is poised to hire a private law firm to help defend itself against a federal class-action lawsuit that claims police failed to properly investigate sexual assaults involving students at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

By Pamela Wood

Nov 14, 2018

A second high school in the Maryland suburbs has confronted an alleged episode of hazing involving football players, officials confirmed — as administrators contend with continuing concern about alleged sexual assaults by players at Damascus High, a football powerhouse.

The sexual assaults of four high school football players in Maryland last week were part of a hazing ritual at Damascus High School involving a broomstick, according to the accounts of suspects and victims detailed in a police report about the allegations.

Maryland gets funding to help test and track rape kits

By Catherine Rentz

Oct 26, 2018

On Nov. 15, two Baltimore County police detectives sat down at a Chick-fil-A to interview three University of Maryland, Baltimore County, baseball players accused of rape, according to investigative notes. The interviews, in total, lasted about an hour.

By Catherine Rentz

Oct 17, 2018

Jorge Fuentes, 54, was found guilty Oct. 15 of sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl that a relative of his was babysitting, according to news release from office of the State’s Attorney for Baltimore City. 

By Lillian Reed

Oct 15, 2018

The president said Fridthat UMBC would start implementing mandatory training for students, faculty and staff on campus. The training would be in-person and live and not online, and would focus on areas such as trauma, prevention and what happens during the reporting process after an incide

By Cody Boteler

Oct 12, 2018

UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski acknowledges that the school's previous efforts on sexual assault were inadequate. That's a good start.

In an announcement Thursday from a university leadership committee and several student organizations, the university affirmed plans to cooperate on several measures, including developing a scope of work for an outside expert to review sexual misconduct practices.

None of us has enough evidence to make a decisive conclusion about Dr. Ford’s testimony. But to assume her experience is false and to cast her as a bad person for talking about her experience communicates to family members who are victims that their own stories will not be taken seriously.

I was sexually assaulted — raped — in my early 20s. It's not something I've come to terms with (if one ever does) until recently. Being a man, it's a bit more difficult to reveal these things. Men are supposed to be strong. Victims are sissies.

Towson University released its annual report of crime on campus last week showing a rise in stalking incidents and revised its three previous reports to indicate that some crimes, including sexual assault and dating violence, had been undercounted.

By Libby Solomon

Oct 8, 2018