Southern Maryland News

Man gets 3 years for sexual relations with juvenile

Convicted of charges in two counties

- By ANDREW CEPHAS acephas@somdnews.com Twitter: @CalRecANDR­EW

A 26-year-old Waldorf man was dealt three years of active incarcerat­ion after pleading guilty to third-degree sex offense and manufactur­ing child pornograph­y in Calvert County Circuit Court Monday afternoon for a November incident in which he recorded himself via cellphone having sexual relations with a teenager.

He was sentenced to 18 months of active incarcerat­ion Aug. 31 for similar accusation­s in Charles County.

Jamel Maurice Hooker was indicted on three counts of third-degree sex offense and single counts of child pornograph­y filming sex act, child pornograph­y solicit subject and the sexual solicitati­on of a minor for the Nov. 25 incident, according to online court records.

Authoritie­s became aware of Hooker’s activities Dec. 4 after making contact with the 15-year-old victim’s father at the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office. With the father’s consent, the contents of the teenager’s phone were downloaded, at which time several videos and photograph­s that were pornograph­ic in nature were observed, previous reports state. On Dec. 10, Detective Hawkins and Detective Quinn responded to Leonard Hall Junior Naval Academy to speak with the victim in ref- erence to the investigat­ion.

The victim said she was communicat­ing with “a guy she met over Instagram named J,” later identified as Hooker. She began receiving multiple contacts from people on kik, a social media applicatio­n, requesting photos and videos from her. According to the reports, she admitted sending images and videos, some of which were pornograph­ic in nature.

After being contacted by Hooker to hang out one night, the victim sent her address and met Hooker during the late night hours, court records detail. Hooker took the victim to Oxford Way Shopping Center after picking her up in his 2013 Kia Optima. Parked in the shopping center, Hooker recorded himself engaged in a sexual act with the victim. The victim was able to describe what Hooker was wearing the night of the incident.

Quinn observed multiple videos in the victim’s phone depicting the same outfit the victim described. Quinn went back to the scene of the incident, at which time she found two used condoms, along with other evidence. The victim provided authoritie­s with a phone number for “J,” resulting in Hooker being identified as the owner, according to the documents.

On Jan. 12, Quinn at- tempted to make contact with Hooker at his residence, but left her business card for someone there after being notified he was not home. Quinn received a phone call from Hooker’s father, asking why she wanted to speak with him. After she told Hooker’s father she needed to speak with his son, he said he would pass on the message. Quinn heard no more from Hooker, so she contacted his father again. Hooker’s father said he told his son to call her and explained he had a lawyer for a case in Charles County who would be contacting her, along with Hooker.

Quinn went to the victim’s residence Feb. 3, presented a photograph­ic lineup and asked the victim to identify “J.” The victim identified Hooker in approximat­ely eight seconds, according to the reports. A search warrant conducted at Hooker’s residence Feb. 12 led to the discovery of the clothes pictured in the victim’s phone, and Hooker’s DNA was collected as part of the warrant.

Further investigat­ion into the Charles County case revealed a similar incident involving Hooker and a juvenile. In this case, Hooker picked up a 14-year-old girl from school and took her to a nearby motel where he had sex with her multiple times. He then dropped her off near her middle school, where she was confronted by a school resource officer and administra­tor as she tried to sneak back into the building. Distraught, the girl told them about Hooker and what she had been doing, according to previous reports.

In Charles, Hooker pled guilty to third-degree sexual offense in July and was sentenced to 10 years of incarcer- ation with all but 18 months suspended Aug. 31.

On Monday, Hooker pled guilty to third-degree sex offense and manufactur­ing child pornograph­y. Although Hooker’s sentence guidelines were six months to three years and three months, Calvert County Deputy State’s Attorney Kathryn Marsh requested a sentence above the guidelines, whereas Del Lynch, public defender, requested an 18-month sentence at the Calvert County Detention Center.

Hooker was given a Division of Correction­s sentence of 10 years with all but three years suspended. He will be on five years supervised probation upon his release and must register in the Tier II sex offender registry.

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