ABERDEEN, Md. — A Whiteford man will spend the next half-century behind bars for entering a sleeping woman's hotel room and raping her.
Back on September 12, 2022, a woman staying at an Aberdeen Red Roof Inn was awoken by a naked stranger inside her room.
The suspect, later identified as 44-year-old Earl Samuel Jones III, reportedly choked the woman and threatened to kill her if she screamed.
From there he went onto sexually assault the victim.
Turns out the woman was staying at the motel with her boyfriend, but he went to a vending machine, and left the room door propped open.
Detectives believe that's how Jones first entered the victim's room.
Hotel surveillance caught him entering and leaving the motel.
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After seeing her husband was wanted on social media, Jones' wife called police to hand over his cell phone and clothing he'd worn the night of the rape.
DNA detected on the victim during a forensic exam ended up matching with Jones.
"This victim lived through every woman’s worst nightmare. Asleep, attacked, and violated in the most horrific of ways, and now she is forced to forever live with the trauma of what Earl Jones did to her that September night," said Harford County State’s Attorney Alison M. Healey. "I applaud her bravery in presenting her impact statement to the court in sentencing and for her involvement with the investigation and prosecution of this case."
Upon release, Jones will be ordered to serve five-years supervised probation and register as a lifetime sex offender.
