May 14, 2009
Army sergeant charged with rape of woman in Bel Air
An Army sergeant stationed at Aberdeen Proving Ground while undergoing training was charged in a sexual assault in downtown Bel Air early Friday. Hazeez Oluwatoyin Olajuwon of Atlanta is being held at the Harford County Detention Center after Bel Air police detectives arrested him at the base about 3:45 p.m. Friday. The incident occurred about 12:30 a.m. outside the Greene Turtle restaurant at 117 S. Main St., according to court documents, when a man invited a woman to his car. Forty minutes later, the woman's worried friend went looking for her and found her alone, "crying hysterically" out front, documents said. The woman told her friend the man had held her against her will, assaulting her numerous times in his vehicle as she banged on the window for help, the report said. Olajuwon was charged with one count of second-degree rape, one count each of second- and third-degree sexual offense, one count of false imprisonment and one count of second-degree assault. He was being held without bond.
- Jonathan Pitts
Rape charges added in Carroll hammer attack
Rape charges have been filed against a Westminster man accused of attacking a woman with a hammer Sunday. Paul D. Scott, 51, of the 1100 block of Muller Road had been charged with attempted murder, assault and reckless endangerment in the case. State police allege that Scott attacked the 56-year-old woman after volunteering to bring her newspaper from her driveway. The woman, who was repeatedly hit on the head with the hammer, told police she lost consciousness during the attack. On Tuesday night, investigators added charges of first- and second-degree rape and first-degree sex offense against Scott, who is being held on $750,000 bond. The woman was listed in good condition at Carroll Hospital Center.
Edgewood man convicted in October 2007 Harford rape
A 28-year-old Edgewood man was found guilty Wednesday of rape, assault, burglary and use of a handgun in a crime of violence in connection with an attack on a woman that occurred in Harford County in October 2007. Ricky Shamar Washington could receive up to two life terms when he is sentenced in July. He was convicted after a weeklong trial and nearly two days of jury deliberations in Harford County Circuit Court.
- Mary Gail Hare
Wife refused to cannibalize victim, court records show
Court records show that a woman convicted with her husband in the dismemberment murders of a couple in Ocean City in 2002 discussed cannibalizing one of the victims. The reference comes from a judge's order Wednesday denying a new trial to Erika Sifrit of Hollidaysburg, Pa. In a statement to police after the slayings, Sifrit said she refused her husband Benjamin's request to cook and eat a leg of one of the victims. A Frederick County judge cited the statement as evidence of Erika Sifrit exercising control over their relationship. Her lawyers had claimed Sifrit was slavishly devoted to her husband. Erika Sifrit is serving a sentence of life plus 20 years for killing Joshua Ford and Martha "Genie" Crutchley, of Fairfax, Va.
- Associated Press
