Detective: Suspected Intruder Photographed Home Before Nottingham Home-Invasion Assault

The man accused of sneaking into a Nottingham apartment and assaulting a 13-year-old girl a had photo of the home on his phone and was later found in possession of a family member’s stolen car, jurors were told Thursday.

Albert Antonio Jones, 44, of Baltimore City, is on trial in Baltimore County charged with rape, assault, home invasion, and other offenses stemming from a 2023 incident at an apartment on Glen Way.

Investigators believe Jones targeted the girl’s family—breaking into the home, assaulting the teen, and weeks later taking the grandmother’s car.

The teen victim and her relatives are not being named to protect her identity.

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Jones, a maintenance technician for the Baltimore City Housing Authority, has not been convicted of car theft by city prosecutors. Jurors were also not told Thursday about items recovered from the grandmother’s car, including handcuffs, gloves, mace, a knit hat with the word “POLICE,” and a security-style badge, according to charging documents.

The prosecution rested its case Thursday after testimony from DNA experts, data analysts, and the Baltimore County police detective who led the investigation.

Jones claims he rented the white Chevy Malibu from a man named Charles Pope or Charles Hamilton through a car dealership, but police did not follow up on that lead.

“Mr. Jones’ assertion is that he was not in fact targeting them,” defense attorney Robert Smith said Monday during a pre-trial hearing outside the jury’s presence.

“He thought he was legitimately renting the car,” Smith said. “The police haven’t been able to figure out the entire story, and neither have we. But it has something to do with Charles. It has something to do with money, and it has something to do with the…family.”

The teen victim previously testified that a man woke her from sleep, bound her with duct tape, placed a pillowcase over her head, and digitally assaulted her with a gloved hand.

She said she was home alone and that the man asked about marijuana, money, and her father.

Her father testified he did not know Jones and was not involved in selling drugs.

A man later identified as Jones was seen on a Ring camera peering into the home weeks before the break-in.

Baltimore County Detective Timothy Lee testified Thursday that Jones had in his cell phone of the back of the house taken from outside through a window.

Jones was later found in possession of the grandmother’s stolen car, which had been taken on Dec. 9, 2023, by someone who had a key.

Detective Lee also said Jones had searched online for information about the apartment complex.

“To me, that’s significant because when you click on the link for the Dunfield Townhomes and Apartments, it shows the layout of the townhomes,” he said. “Mind you, five days later is when he was captured on the Ring camera looking in the house.”

During a police interview, Lee told Jones he was being charged with first-degree rape. Before hearing anything about the victim’s age, Jones volunteered, “I love kids,” Lee said.

And when shown a screenshot of the Ring-camera suspect, Jones responded, “You can see in the photograph I’m not there to do any type of burglary,” essentially acknowledging he was the person in the footage, Lee testified.

Lee also said that when he explained that the absence of DNA did not necessarily clear him, Jones replied with something to the effect of, “I never said you wouldn’t find my DNA there.”

In fact, investigators did not identify any DNA positively matching Jones. An expert testified that male DNA from the scene was too limited to match to any individual. No fingerprints were recovered, and prosecutors said the intruder wore work gloves.

Closing arguments are scheduled for today.