Delaware man sent to prison for sexually assaulting woman in Upper Moreland

A Delaware man was sent to a Pennsylvania prison for sexually assaulting a Bucks County woman while they were staying at an Upper Moreland hotel during what was supposed to be a celebration of the woman’s birthday.

Tygee R. Dennis, 23, of Dover, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 5 to 12 years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and strangulation in connection with a March 7, 2021, incident while the pair stayed at the Hampton Inn along Easton Road in the Willow Grove section of Upper Moreland.

Judge Risa Vetri Ferman, who accepted a plea agreement in the case, also ordered Dennis to complete five years’ probation following parole, meaning Dennis will be under court supervision for 17 years.

Dennis also faces a lifetime requirement to report his address to state police in order to comply with Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act. Dennis will remain under sex offender supervision during the parole and probationary periods.

As a condition of the sentence, Ferman said Dennis must undergo a psychosexual evaluation and comply with all recommendations for treatment. The judge ordered Dennis to complete a domestic violence counseling program and he is prohibited from having contact with the victim and her family.

An investigation began on March 8, 2021, when the victim, who resided in Bristol Township, Bucks County, contacted authorities there to report that she had been sexually assaulted by Dennis the night before while they were staying at the Hampton Inn in Willow Grove, according to a criminal complaint. Bristol authorities then contacted Upper Moreland police, who took over the investigation.

The victim told detectives that Dennis, whom she dated, rented a room at the hotel because it was her birthday. The woman told detectives that Dennis became intoxicated while they were at dinner and that when they returned to the room Dennis forced her onto a bed and had sexual contact with her without her consent, according to court papers.

The woman told detectives that she tried to leave the hotel room but Dennis blocked the door. The woman said she screamed for help but no one heard her. Dennis also placed the victim’s cellphone in a microwave and turned it on, breaking the phone “because she was trying to call someone for help,” detectives alleged.

During the sexual assault, Dennis grabbed the victim around her neck and the woman briefly lost consciousness, detectives alleged.

The woman later drove to her Bucks County residence and called 911. Police detained Dennis, who was a passenger in the woman’s vehicle.

When detectives interviewed Dennis, he claimed that after dinner, the pair began arguing and fighting in the hotel room and he admitted grabbing the woman around her neck, according to court papers. Dennis initially claimed the sexual contact was consensual but when asked later if the victim specifically gave him permission to have sex he stated “no,” detectives alleged in the arrest affidavit.

As part of the plea agreement, other charges of rape, aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, simple assault, false imprisonment and unlawful restraint were dismissed against Dennis.