Berlin Man Faces Indictment For Raping Daughter

SNOW HILL - A Berlin man was indicted last week by a Worcester County Grand Jury on charges of rape and assault following a pattern of abuse on his young daughter dating back several years.

A 38-year-old man of Berlin was indicted last week within days of having rape, assault, sex offense and other charges against him dropped during a hearing in Worcester County Circuit Court. The charges against him were filed in April after the victim came forward and told police and Social Services workers about the pattern of abuse on her dating back to 2001 when she was 11 years old.

On April 11, the victim met with a Worcester County Bureau of Investigation (WCBI) detective and a county Social Services worker at the Berlin police station and told them of a long pattern of rape and abuse allegedly carried out by her father. The first case dates back to sometime between September and November 2001 when the victim lived in Ocean City with her mother, younger brother and her father.

According to court documents, the victim was getting ready to leave for school one day when her father allegedly stopped her, took her to a couch in the living room and had sex with her for over 10 minutes despite her pleas for him to stop. The victim's mother and younger brother had already left the house and she was alone with him.

That first incident started a pattern of sexual abuse that continued for several years until the last incident in 2006 when the victim finally agreed to tell police. The last incident happened sometime in January or February 2006 when the victim, then 16, lived in Berlin.

According to the victim's testimony in court documents, she attempted one night to leave the house and go to a friend's house, but was told by him she could not leave. After pleading with him to let her visit her friend, her father allegedly asked her what she would do for him if he would let her leave. Her father then allegedly requested the victim give her oral sex.

According to court documents, the victim stated between the first incident in 2001 and the last incident in 2006, when she was 16 years old, her father raped her and made her give him oral sex numerous times. The victim said she had difficulty remembering specific incidents because of the frequency with which they occurred.

The victim told police she had told a friend about the incidents in detail. The WCBI detective and the Social Services worker then interviewed the friend who corroborated the victim's stories. The father's name has been withheld from this article to minimize further hardship on the alleged victim.