MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — WARNING THE DETAILS IN THIS STORY MAY BE DISTURBING FOR SOME READERS, DISCRETION ADVISED.
A Gaithersburg man will serve 45 years in prison for raping a woman near a bus stop in 2017, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Steven Salant sentenced defendant David L. Williams for the crime.
Williams pleaded guilty to first-degree rape on October 4 of this year. Williams targeted a woman as she waited at the bus stop along Watkins Mill Road near Travis Lane in Gaithersburg. He threw her down an embankment behind the bus stop and forced cocaine into her mouth.
On October 6, 2017 the female victim was at the bus stop located at Watkins Mill Road at Travis Lane in Gaithersburg. When she arrived at the bus stop just around 5:30 am, Williams was waiting there, according to court documents.
A few moments later, court documents say Williams grabbed her from behind and put his hand over her mouth. She tried to scream but he put powder in her face, later determined to be cocaine, and threw her down the hill behind the bus stop.
Once Mr. Williams gained control of the victim, he began to assault her. She attempted to run away, but he told her he would kill her. The victim said in court documents that she passed out a short time later.
When she regained consciousness, she was naked except for her underwear and socks. All of her belongings, including her bag and clothing, had been stolen by the defendant, the documents say.
Once he is released from prison, Williams will serve five years of supervised probation, and he will be required to register as a sex offender for life. There will also be a hearing on December 10 to determine potential financial restitution of approximately $14,600 requested by the victim for her medical bills, the state's attorney's office said in a release.
“This was an incredibly vicious and heinous crime. We applaud Judge Salant for exceeding the typical sentencing guidelines for this defendant who selected a victim at random and engaged in such cruel and violent conduct. I thank Assistant State’s Attorneys Mary Herdman and Adrienne Ferrell for their work in this matter and commend the Montgomery County Police in their use of cutting-edge technology to solve this cold case, preventing any further threat to the community on the part of David L. Williams,” said State’s Attorney John McCarthy in a press release.
