BART sex assault suspect confesses to misdemeanor battery

A man who originally was charged with sexually assaulting a developmentally disabled woman at the Concord BART station has accepted two misdemeanor convictions through a plea deal, court records show.

Marcus Jean-Pierre, 48, originally was charged with sexual battery for allegedly groping a woman as she waited for a bus at the BART station July 1. Through a plea deal, he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery and public intoxication. The terms of his sentencing include probation, a referral to the county sheriff's custody alternative facility in lieu of jail time and a three-year court order to stay away from the victim, prosecutors said.

The deal was finalized this month, court records show.

Jean-Pierre, a Richmond resident, was arrested last October after the woman identified him from a photo lineup, BART police said. She told them he grabbed her breasts and genitals several times while she waited for the bus. She said he identified himself as “Marcus from Richmond” during the incident.

An instructor from an Adult with Disabilities program at the Mount Diablo Adult Education center in Concord, where the woman attended, later told police she lacked the cognitive abilities to reject unwanted advances from another adult, authorities said.

Jean-Pierre's criminal history includes a domestic violence conviction from 2016 in Contra Costa and a 2017 assault conviction in Solano County, court records show.

That incident was the second sexual assault reported on BART grounds in recent memory. In November 2021, a woman reported being raped by a man who lived in a tent on BART property after they smoked methamphetamine together, according to authorities. The suspect in that case was arrested but never charged, court records show.