Olney man accused of rape has long history of sexually related crimes
Man accused of luring teen into woods before raping her had history of inappropriate sexual incidents, court documents show
The man arrested for luring a teen into a wooded path and allegedly raping that teen is being held without bond. That’s where a prosecutor revealed the suspect’s history of sexually related offenses goes back to at least 2016.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - The Olney man arrested for luring a teen into a wooded path and allegedly raping her is being held without bond after a court appearance on Monday.
During Monday's bond hearing, a prosecutor revealed the suspect’s history of sexually related offenses goes back to at least 2016.
Judge Sherri Koch agreed with the prosecutor, who argued that 31-year-old Joshua Black’s history shows a pattern of non-stop escalation despite police and court intervention. The prosecutor mentioned a slew of previous cases, including a 2016 indecent exposure case involving masturbation, the stalking of a young woman at her workplace, and a 2022 assault case involving the inappropriate touching of at least two women on the University of Maryland’s campus.
Prior to last week’s incident, Montgomery County Assistant Chief Health Administrative Officer Dr. Earl Stoddard told FOX 5 the same suspect was seen masturbating under a towel at a neighborhood pool – in front of several females, including his 13-year-old daughter.
Stoddard showed FOX 5 a copy of the trespass order filed against Black on May 27, meant to keep him away from Hallowell Pool on Prince Phillip Drive.
Court documents revealed that a 14-year-old was walking her dog around the neighborhood pool last week when the suspect approached her and asked her to walk with him. The victim told police she was too uncomfortable to say "no."
"It’s frustrating working in public safety and not feeling like you can do something about something you really believe is going to happen," Dr. Stoddard told FOX 5 after Monday’s bond hearing. "When I found on Friday that this had happened – and as soon as I heard it was Mr. Black – I cried. I mean, it felt really frustrating to see what happened."
Dr. Stoddard, along with Councilmember Dawn Leudtke, attended the court hearing in person.
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Olney man lured teen into a wooded area before raping her: police
Police say an Olney man charged with raping a teen may have more victims.
Disturbing court documents show the 31-year-old admitted his actions and also admitted to knowing the victim was 14 years old.
Among other actions, the victim told police Black inappropriately touched her multiple times after walking her to a wooded area. He also allegedly forced her to commit a sexual act. The victim told police she was frozen and described not feeling she had any other choice but to comply.
The prosecutor said Black's previous charges do not accurately describe how dangerous he is, telling the judge some stem from the 31-year-old being accused of stalking young women at their workplace and publicly masturbating.
"There are definitely some things that we’re looking into," said Montgomery County State's Attorney’s Office Spokesperson Lauren Demarco. "We are also asking anyone who believes that they have had inappropriate contact or been victimized by this individual to please contact Montgomery County police. They can also reach out to our office."
In court, it was said that Black was still on probation for the UMD assault case at the time of last week’s sexual assault. He’s also supposed to be participating in a rehabilitation program.
A Prince George’s County official says Black did attend the rehabilitation programming as required but was also found to be in violation of the probation. Questionable behavior had been noted, but it’s not clear what exactly triggered the violation and the result.
"This is very rare that we have cases like these, and I’m, thankful for that," said Montgomery County Special Victims Investigation Division Captain Jeffrey Bunge. He told FOX 5 that despite the number of sexual assault and abuse cases being reported recently, Montgomery County police have not seen an uptick in sexual assault cases. However, he did say the case involving the 14-year-old victim, where it’s stranger on stranger, is rare and is treated as "all hands on deck."
"They’re kind of the scary ones," he explained. "All of the types of cases we investigate are serious but a stranger case like this, when I got notified, my team was already out working this case very diligently."
Black is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Aug. 18.