Judge Denies Pretrial Release for Baltimore Man Charged With Rape

A Baltimore man charged with first-degree rape will remain behind bars after a judge denied his request Tuesday to be released pending trial.

Gerard King, 37, is accused of choking and sexually assaulting a woman he had been dating during a July 2025 encounter at a hotel in the Gwynn Oak area of Baltimore County.

The woman told police the encounter began consensually but became violent after King asked whether she was seeing other men and became angry, according to charging documents.

“At one point he even grabbed her hair, threw her back on the bed, where she struck her head on the bed frame,” Assistant State’s Attorney Michael DeStefano told Judge Garret Glennon. “He strangled her until she nearly blacked out and she was thrown back onto the bed after trying to escape.”

DeStefano said King repeatedly sexually assaulted the woman over approximately three hours before falling asleep, allowing her to escape.

The woman went directly to a hospital for a sexual assault examination after leaving the hotel, according to charging documents.

At King’s bail review hearing Tuesday, DeStefano said the woman initially did not report the alleged assault to police because she was afraid of King. She eventually contacted police in May 2026 after King began trying to contact her again, he said.

King, who was indicted Aug. 10, is charged with first- and second-degree rape, first-degree assault and a fourth-degree sex offense, according to court records. He retained an attorney and declined to speak with police during the investigation, according to charging documents.

DeStefano told the judge that two other women have since come forward alleging that King sexually assaulted them as well. Neither has agreed to participate in the investigation so far, he said.

King’s attorney, Peter Crawford, told the judge that King has no criminal convictions, is a father of three and has been steadily employed throughout his adult life. He asked Glennon to consider releasing King with a no-contact order while he awaits his Jan. 26, 2027, trial.

King is not eligible for home detention because he allegedly violated a protective order in Anne Arundel County while previously on home detention, the judge was told.

“There are additional victims out there,” DeStefano said. “I fear for the danger to the community, the danger to the victims, and the potential victims.”

Glennon ordered King to remain jailed at the Baltimore County Detention Center.