Chicago Salesman Sentenced In Maryland Rape
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (CBS) - A magazine salesman from Chicago will spend more than a year in jail for allegedly raping an autistic woman he met while going door to door in Arnold, Md.
Jarvis Spain, 21, was sentenced in Maryland Thursday to 17 months in jail. Under a plea agreement that allowed him to maintain his innocence, Spain pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and fourth-degree sex offense.
Prosecutors said in April, the woman, who suffers from Asperger's syndrome, was in her parents' home in Arnold in the middle of the afternoon when Spain knocked on the door. He was selling magazine subscriptions, and asked to come in and use the bathroom. The woman let him in, the Annapolis Capital reported.
According to prosecutors, Spain then asked the woman if she had a boyfriend, then hugged and kissed in the kitchen when she said no, the Capital reported. Then, prosecutors say, he forced the woman to have sex.
Prosecutors said the woman didn't tell Spain to stop because she was in shock. But defense attorneys said because the woman never said no, Spain thought the act was consensual, the newspaper said.
Prosecutors believe Arnold may have also attacked another developmentally disabled woman before he was arrested. This alleged victim was a 29-year-old woman with the intellectual ability of a 10- or 11-year-old, the Capital reported.
But prosecutors decided not to go forward with charges in the second alleged assault because of problems with the case.
A prosecutor said both incidents were reported to police as sexual assaults.
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