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Marion Pearson, now living in North Carolina, pleaded guilty on Oct. 4 to second-degree rape and sex assault for the attacks of two victims in April and June 1981.
In March 2022, prosecutors say that detectives from the Montgomery County Police Cold Case Unit identified an open rape case from April 1981, and additional testing linked the crime to Pearson, who served 22 years behind bars in North Carolina for a series of rapes before his release in 2020.
Court documents state that in the first incident, Pearson approached his first victim in the 1800 block of University Boulevard in Wheaton when she was attacked from behind and forced deep into a nearby wooded area, stating that he was not going to hurt her, just hold her for ransom.
He then put tape over the victim's mouth and eyes, taped her hands behind her back, raped her, and stole her wallet.
Pearson then gave her pants back, kept her underwear, and untied her.
In the second incident, two months later, prosecutors said that his victim was walking in the 11400 block of Connecticut Avenue in Wheaton, taking her again into the woods and threatening her with a knife.
He then sexually abused her with items after she advised that she had a sexually transmitted infections.
According to court documents, during that assault, Pearson struck her with a stick he used to abuse her with, then urinated and defected on her.
He again took his victim's underwear.
Pearson previously lived in Prince George's County, officials said, and his rap sheet includes arrests for assault, indecent exposure, and peeping-tom, between 1980 and 1999.
“After more than four decades the defendant is finally being held accountable for his violent actions in Montgomery County," State’s Attorney John McCarthy stated.
"We thank the members of the Montgomery County Police Cold Case Unit for bringing closure to this case and hope the conviction can provide some comfort to the survivors of these crimes."
Pearson is scheduled to be sentenced in December.
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