Trial underway for former state park manager accused of raping two park workers

BALTMORE -- The former state park manager accused of raping two former co-workers came face-to-face with his first accuser on the first day of his trial in a Baltimore Circuit Court.

Michael Browning, 72, was arrested back in September for raping and assaulting a woman he worked with at Gunpowder Falls State Park. By the time a grand jury indicted him a month later, a second accuser came forward.

WJZ learned both are now Baltimore County police officers.

Investigators determined over the course of a six-month-long investigation that he had sexually assaulted the same person several times, police said.

He's now facing nine counts each of second-degree rape, second-degree assault and fourth-degree sexual offense.

The trial got underway Thursday.

Opening statements came Thursday morning after two days of jury selection. 

Both Assistant State's Attorney Brian Botts and Browning's attorney, Gary Bernstein, revealed Browning and both of his accusers were all in sexual relationships with one another.

But, Botts said things went beyond what was initially consented. Also, that consent can be withdrawn.

On the stand, Browning's first accuser said he became a mentor to her. She first met him when she was 11. She is now 30.

She described how he started making sexual comments around her when she was a teen. The comments, she said, got more explicit and more directed at her as she got older.

Their first sexual encounter happened at Browning's home in 2016, when she was 23. The two would start having sex more frequently after she moved to Gunpowder Falls State park for work.

They would text and call each other to meet for sex, she said. Their texts would be in code since Browning had a state-issued phone, but eventually, Browning gave her money to buy another phone for him to use so they could be more explicit.

There were three incidents of rape Browning's first accuser described on the stand Thursday. All of them happening at the home she lived in at Gunpowder Falls State Park.

She said all three incidents started while she was asleep, also that she told Browning no and she wasn't in the mood. In two of the incidents, she pulled her blanket to her chin.

But, like what's described in charging documents, she said he pulled the blanket off and her clothes as well.

Talking about the first incident, she said, "I remembered looking up at the light, thinking, I'm being raped right now."

She described trying to fight back, but couldn't because of the weight difference between them. Detailing in the third incident, she couldn't breathe when he forced his weight on her back.

She said she never confronted Browning about these incidents, worried he would just do it again, or that he would do it to one of her loved ones.

She also testified to first getting involved with the second accuser at the insistence of Browning, who she said had a fantasy of seeing her with another woman.

In his opening statement, Bernstein called both accusers liars and being manipulative, saying they made the first move on Browning.

Also, by reading texts, that the relationships had no hint of non-consensual behaviors.

One of them, allegedly from the first accuser, reads, "I'm really sad I'm not pleasing you."

Bernstein said someone wouldn't say something like that to their rapist.

Browning's first accuser will continue to testify Friday. 

It's not clear exactly when, but his second accuser will also take the stand at some point in this trial.