Overview
- Maryland State Police charged Sgt. James Brooke Shoults, a 31-year veteran, with second-degree rape, sexual abuse of a minor, child abuse and related counts and he is being held in jail.
- Charging documents say the alleged assault occurred at Shoults’s Severna Park home on Jan. 10 and identify the victim only as “MV.”
- Investigators say the victim reported the incident in July, which led state police to open a criminal probe that produced the current charges.
- The papers describe the victim saying she was given alcoholic drinks, felt an unfamiliar paralysis or ‘frozen’ sensation, vomited, showered, and later found Shoults touching her and ‘spooning’ her without consent.
- Anne Arundel County police suspended Shoults without pay, the department opened a separate administrative inquiry, neighbors said they were shocked, and the public is asked to contact Senior Trooper Dustin Pope with tips while the legal process unfolds.