16-year-old boy charged with rape, robbery in Cecil County

For months, police in Elkton had heard word on the street of a rapist targeting prostitutes throughout the town in the middle of the night, and it culminated in the arrest of 16-year old Isiah McCargo this week when one of the alleged victims finally broke her silence.

 

"On Aug. 5 of this year, a potential rape victim came forward and said that she was raped in that area sometime in the period of September 2015 to December 2015, and due to talk on the street, she wanted to come forward because she heard there were other victims,” said Capt. Joseph Zurolo of the Elkton Police Department. “This victim was able to identify Isiah McCargo through a photo lineup."

The victim told detectives she was “violently raped” during that time period near the intersection of Mackall and Osage Streets by a suspect unknown to her at the time. The woman said the suspect followed her, engaged her in conversation and eventually forced her into an alleyway at knifepoint.

He told her not to scream, according to police, and forced her to perform sexual acts. During the assault, the woman told police the boy stole $96 tucked inside of her bra.

The woman identified McCargo in a photo lineup. He’s believed to be connected to similar incidents in the area.

McCargo was just 15 years old at the time---not even old enough to drive, but police say he would ride a bicycle, trail women he spotted walking the streets and then would lure them into the shadows with promises of money or drugs for sex.

 

Once he had them alone, he would attack them.

 

"He' been charged with this one.  A second rape has also been confirmed and he's in the process of being charged with that one also, and we have also filed charges for three additional victims of attempted rape and he will be served with them any moment now," said Zurolo.

 

Police arrested McCargo at his home on transom court earlier this week catching his mother, Michelle Hammond, off guard.

 

"They didn't ask him any questions,” Hammond said. “When they came to the house, they ask me if they could speak to Isiah and I told them, 'Yes.'  So I went and got my son.  I brought him downstairs, and the only thing they said to him was, 'Turn around.  Put your hands behind your back.’"

 

Now, that she's learned details of the crimes, Hammond is convinced her son is innocent.

 

For one thing, he was living with his football coach 16 miles away.

 

"The time period of September through December, Isiah did not live in Elkton,” said Hammond, “He was living in Rising Sun.  He was going to Rising Sun High School.  He wasn't even here."

 

Police say they developed McCargo as a suspect based upon a name given by a witness and the victim choosing his picture from that photo lineup, but his family maintains there is another person named 'Isiah' that's known on the streets who closely resembles him.

 

At this point there is no DNA evidence, and McCargo's family says he doesn't even own a bicycle.