Detective indicted on rape charge

A police detective in Baltimore's Southeastern District was indicted yesterday by a city grand jury on charges of second-degree rape and misconduct in office.

William D. Welch, a 12-year veteran of the Police Department, is accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl July 16 in the station house. The teenager had been arrested because she had an outstanding warrant in Baltimore County on prostitution charges, police said.

Welch, 40, was suspended without pay, a police spokeswoman said last night.

The Baltimore Police Department has faced two other accusations this year of male officers coercing females to have sex in exchange for avoiding arrest. Those officers, who work in the Southwestern District, are scheduled to appear in court next week.