A man has been charged with assault after he was reportedly caught on CCTV stabbing a female shopper in the backside with a syringe filled with semen.
Thomas Byron Stemen was said to be found in possession of multiple syringes filled with the substance after the woman was stabbed while her back was turned in a shop.
Officers in the US state of Maryland were informed after a female victim, later identified as Katie Peters, told them she had been assaulted and injected with what felt like a needle.
On February 28, 2020 the Anne Arundel County Police Department learned that the substance in the syringe from the 2/18 assault was semen. Additional testing and investigation are under way. 1/2
— Anne Arundel Police (@AACOPD) February 28, 2020
The authorities later found a large syringe filled with a liquid in the 51-year-old’s car during a search, as well as several more syringes at his home.
Surveillance footage released by Maryland police appears to show the alleged attacker, who is wearing grey tracksuit bottoms and a dark jacket, walking into the store after Peters.
As she puts her shopping trolley back, the man appears to bump into her, before she turns around clearly distressed with what had just taken place.
Peters, who later revealed she felt traumatised by the incident, told investigating officers she had been stabbed with a needle and therefore had to go for urine and blood tests, as well as taking anti-disease medication for the following 30 days.
Anne Arundel County PoliceStemen is accused of assaulting two more women after attempting to inject them at the same Anne Arundel County supermarket.
Speaking to WJZ, Peters said that after the incident, Stemen told her: ‘I know it feels like a bee sting, doesn’t it?’
She said it wasn’t until she was on her way home that she began to feel pain, and when she was home later, she found a puncture wound.
Peters said:
I started driving home (and) it started hurting really bad. I called my son and said, ‘Something’s not right, I hope nothing happens. I hope I make it home, I love you.
Stemen has been charged with first and second degree assault and reckless endangerment, and is being held without bond since his arrest.
Detectives believe there may be more victims of similar attacks and are urging people to report any suspicious incidents.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.