Edgewood man pleads guilty to attempted rape

Also admits to drug charges; expected to serve 30 years

An Edgewood man has pleaded guilty to attempted rape in an incident involving a woman he picked up after finding her stranded on the side of the road.

Bernard Lamont Staten, 68, of Edgewood, pleaded guilty Dec. 4 to attempted second-degree rape and possession with intent to distribute cocaine in two separate cases before Harford County Circuit Judge Diane Adkins-Tobin.

According to the Harford County State’s Attorney’s Office, a woman was stranded on the side of a road in Baltimore City near Mondawmin Mall on Jan. 24, awaiting a tow truck. Staten did not know her but offered to give her a ride to her home in Westminster. Instead, once the woman was in Staten’s Chevrolet Avalanche, he drove to the Motel 6 in Edgewood. He then grabbed her arm, removed her from the truck and took her into a room he had rented at the motel.

Once inside the room, he pushed her onto the bed and attempted to engage in sexual intercourse with her. When the victim attempted to scream, Staten placed a pillow over her face to quiet her while he tried to remove her clothing. The victim continued to yell and kick to fight off Staten. Eventually, she believed she kicked him in the groin area, which allowed her to run out of the room, the state’s attorney’s office said.

Once out of the room, she got the attention of a guest in another room, who called police. Staten then tried to lure the victim back into his vehicle by telling her that he had her wedding rings, which he had removed from her finger, and that she should come retrieve them. The woman refused, according to the state’s attorney’s office.

On Jan. 26, Harford County Sheriff ’s Office detectives executed a search and seizure warrant on Staten’s truck, where they located the victim’s rings. In addition to the rings, the detectives found more than 13 grams of crack cocaine in individually wrapped bags in the vehicle and more than $965 in cash on Staten when he was arrested. The amount of cocaine and other circumstances indicated that Staten possessed the cocaine with the intent to distribute it, the state’s attorney’s office said.

Staten will be sentenced Monday to 30 years in prison. He will serve 20 years on the rape charge and 10 years on the drug possession charge. The two sentences will be served consecutively and are above the sentencing guidelines, according to the Harford State’s Attorney’s Office.

“Given the defendant’s age, a 30-year sentence in these cases ensures that the community will never again be at risk to be victimized by this defendant,” Harford County State’s Attorney Alison M. Healey said in a statement. “I commend the victim for her strength on the night of this incident and hope that she will feel safe knowing that Mr. Staten is no longer a threat.”