WASHINGTON — The man wanted in three Maryland home invasions has been ordered held without bond by a Montgomery County District Court judge.
Kevin Darnell Ray, 33, appeared via closed circuit television for his bond review hearing on charges of armed robbery, sexual assault and using a firearm during in the commission of a felony.
Judge Barry Hamilton ordered Ray held citing the ‘horrendous’ nature of the crimes.
Asst. State’s Attorney Peter Feeney told the judge that Ray had threatened the occupants of the homes he invaded, threatening to shoot not only the adults, but also the children present.
Feeney says that on Jan. 10, a Wheaton woman had just dropped off a pie at a neighbor’s house when she and her baby headed back to her home. When she found her garage door wouldn’t open, she turned to find a masked Ray standing behind her.
Feeney says that Ray told the woman, “Don’t scream, don’t make a sound or I’ll shoot you and your baby.”
He locked her and her baby in a closet and took her car and credit cards.
The next day, Feeney says, Ray went to a Bethesda home, forced his way in after accosting the housekeeper and threatened the occupants to tell him who else was in the house or he would shoot them.
The home’s occupants, a 14-year-old boy and his mother, were herded to the master bedroom where Ray forced the boy to tie up his own mother, Feeney says. Then Ray tied up the boy.
Next, Ray forced the housekeeper into the a bathroom, blindfolded her and sexually assaulted her while holding scissors to her neck, Feeney says.
Ray told investigators that when the woman became physically sick, he forced her to shower, hoping to get rid of DNA evidence.
Ray is also wanted in connection with the Jan. 13 attack on a Prince George’s residence, where he tied up the occupants of a Temple Hills home, raped a woman and then robbed them.
Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said the judge’s order to hold Ray without bond was ‘absolutely appropriate.’
“There were threats to kill the women who were the primary victims in these crimes, but also their children,” he says.
McCarthy also noted Ray’s previous record.
“The defendant has prior convictions for manslaughter, armed robbery, and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence.”
Initially, police said there was a second suspect, but Prince George’s County Police Chief Mark McGaw said with Ray’s arrest, ‘the threat is over’.
McCarthy echoed, “At this point in time, clearly we have the individual that was primarily responsible for these crimes in custody.”
Prosecutors said in court that Ray admitted his guilt in the cases in Montgomery County.
Ray, who was on crutches, was injured when he struggled to evade capture in North Carolina, McCarthy says. In his arrest photo, Ray had a bandage on one side of his head and had cuts and bruises around a swollen eye.
Ray is a registered sex offender in Maryland, and has, as McCarthy noted, served time for involuntary manslaughter.
If Ray is convicted, prosecutors would consider asking the judge to impose a sentence that would bar the possibility of parole, McCarthy says.
WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report. Follow Kate Ryan and WTOP on Twitter.
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