Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Deputy Jeffery Gerres Charged with Assault

A Harford County sheriff's deputy was arrested Sunday morning in Southeast Baltimore after a woman told police she was coaxed into a residence for a bachelor party and pushed down a flight of stairs, according to court records.

But Deputy Jeffery Gerres, a member of the sheriff's office's violent street crimes unit who received a commendation in 2007, filed his own complaint yesterday against Denise Lillian Rothwell, 47, a twice-convicted prostitute, alleging that she hit him in the eye after he rejected her advances.

Police found Rothwell about 3:30 a.m., crying with her face bruised and bloodied. She told police that a group of five men drove up to her, one of whom flashed a police badge, and asked her to join them for a bachelor party in the 3300 block of O'Donnell St., city police wrote in charging documents.

Rothwell said that she was offered $100 to perform a sex act on the bachelor, who was not identified, but alleged that the man with the badge later asked for the money back, saying that the bills were marked. She added that the man pushed her toward the front door and pushed her again down the stairs, causing her to fall face-first.

Crime lab technicians responded to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, where she was taken for treatment and examination.

An officer went to the O'Donnell Street residence, where Gerres, 29, of Rising Sun, allegedly answered the door and identified himself as a sheriff's deputy. He said he was standing on the front steps of the home when the woman asked him if he was "looking for a party." When he told her no, she struck him in the eye, he said. The officer later observed that Gerres had bruises around his left eye.

Police charged Gerres that morning with second-degree assault and allowing a person into a building for prostitution; yesterday, Gerres filed second-degree assault charges against the woman in District Court.

A spokeswoman for the county sheriff's office said Gerres' police powers have been suspended pending further investigation.



http://www.abc2news.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=ef5e95fc-1ff5-4ffd-9df5-80e238fc3ff8

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