A Howard County jury convicted a Laurel man of the 2016 sexual assault of a Loyola University student.
Edward Witherspoon, 57, was found guilty of kidnapping, second-degree sex offense, third-degree sex offense and second degree assault late Friday afternoon.
Court records show on January 28, 2016 the 20-year-old freshman and her college roommates were celebrating a birthday with vodka shots before heading to the Power Plant Live Entertainment District. At some point during the night the group separated and the victim left the venue to search for her friends outside. That’s when she blacked out and woke up in an unfamiliar bed with a stranger performing a sex act on her.
Police said Witherspoon picked up the victim and drove her to his Laurel apartment where he assaulted her. Surveillance video shows him dropping her off at her dorm the next morning. The victim then reported the assault to police.
Witherspoon is being held without bond and is facing 70 years in prison. He also faces 10 years in prison for a 2015 sexual assault of another woman he picked up in Fells Point and took back to his basement apartment. That trial ended in May when a Howard County jury deadlocked on rape and sex offenses before returning a guilty verdict on the second-degree assault charge.
