(Breaking news) Online erotic ad leads to assault, police say

Waldorf encounter turns to violence

Thursday, May 7, 2009

A Metrorail worker was charged May 1 with the grotesque sexual assault of a woman he hired through Craigslist to provide "erotic services" at a Waldorf hotel.

Police said that Kelvin Cousar, 36, of District Heights might also be connected with a rape in Prince George's County involving a female escort who advertised online.

The victim of the alleged Charles County assault told police that on April 12, she met a man she knew as "Trevon" at the Master Suites Hotel. After he paid her $200 in cash, the woman massaged him and provided additional sexual services, the report indicates.

She told police that her services didn't include sexual intercourse, but because "Trevon" was polite, she agreed to have sex with him at no extra charge.

While they were having intercourse, the man asked her to perform several sex acts, but the woman said she "doesn't do all of that," the report stated. "Trevon" pulled out a silver handgun, forced it into her mouth and told her again to perform the sex acts, according to the court papers. The woman complied with the gun still pointed at her.

The man forced her to follow his bizarre commands until, at one point, the victim vomited, court records state.

Eventually, as the woman was cleaning up in the bathroom, the man dragged her by the hair into another area of the hotel room, according to the report. The man ordered her to kneel down, and the victim believed he was going to kill her because of the way he held the gun, the report stated.

"She remembers asking the suspect, ‘Is this it?'" the charging document stated.

However, the man said he wasn't going to kill her and explained his reasons for allowing her to live, arguing that no one would believe her if she reported the assault and that her case would be thrown out of court, the papers showed. The man also reportedly said that "his people" would track her down.

The assailant pulled the woman back into the bathroom and told her to shut the door, turn the water on and count to 100.

He took the cash he gave her earlier and left the room, the report stated.

After she finished counting, the woman left the hotel. Afraid that the man was following her, she drove to a gas station and then took a circuitous route home.

She spoke with a Charles County sheriff's officer about the assault April 13, providing the man's description and a telephone number he used, court papers state.

The officer spoke with a detective from Prince George's County, who said that she is investigating the Feb. 20 rape of a female escort who posted her services on Craigslist, according to the records. Both victims gave the same cell phone number for the assailant and offered similar physical descriptions of the man. The escort in the Prince George's case said that the man had the tattoo of a cross on his right forearm, according to the court report.

Charles County investigators obtained court approval to wiretap the phone number that the victims provided and asked U.S. marshals to help them identify the number's user, according to charging documents.

Police found that the phone was listed to a K. Cousar. Using criminal databases, they also discovered that Kelvin Cousar has a cross tattoo on his arm, the report showed.

Cousar was charged on May 1 with first-degree sex offense, second-degree sex offense, third-degree sex offense, perverted practice, armed robbery, robbery, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, using a handgun in a crime of violence, concealing a dangerous weapon and theft of less than $500.

He is being held without bond in the Charles County jail, police reported.

Court records indicate that Cousar works as a high voltage technician for Metro and lives with his wife in District Heights. He was charged with second-degree sex offense in a 1995 case and fourth-degree sex offense and battery in another 1995 case, both of which occurred in Anne Arundel County. State's attorneys declined to prosecute the charges, according to online court records.

Diane Richardson, spokeswoman for the sheriff's office, said there are probably additional victims, adding that they "may just be too afraid to come forward."

"While the sexual intercourse began as a consensual encounter, it turned into a violent incident," she said. "We're encouraging anyone with additional information to contact us."

Anyone with additional information about Cousar is asked to call detective Y. Austin of the Charles County Sheriff's Office Special Victims Unit at 301-609-6504.

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