The Columbia man who sexually assaulted a mentally disabled patient at a Howard County hospital was sentenced Monday with his own mental health in question, according to the Howard State?s Attorney?s Office.
“The State asked for eight to 10 years, which is below guidelines, acknowledging Mr. McRae?s mental disorders,” said Wayne Kirwan, spokesman for the State?s Attorney?s Office.
Jerel McRae, 27, of 5999 Turnabout Lane, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of second-degree sex offense for sexually assaulting a “developmentally delayed” teenager, while both were patients in the psychiatric ward of the Howard County General Hospital in January, according to the police report. Prosecutors Colleen McGuinn and Claude de Vastey Jones dropped the remaining two sex-offense charges in return for McRae?s guilty plea.
McRae told police he knew the 19-year-old victim was “a little off,” but in court Monday, he denied knowing she was considered a vulnerable adult, Kirwan said.
The victim has been in the custody of the Baltimore County Department of Social Services since the age of 11 or 12 due to her mental health, McGuinn said in court.
Judge Lenore Gelfam sentenced McRae to 10 years with the Department of Corrections and ordered that he be placed on the sex offender registry. Following his sentencing, McRae asked Gelfam to send him to a “boot camp,” but she said that would not be appropriate because he needs treatment.
She recommended that he go to the Patuxent Institution, a maximum security correctional institution in Jessup, “because they have pretty good mental health and substance abuse treatment,” Kirwan said.
McRae?s attorney, Holly Reed III, could not be reached for comment by press time. Kirwan said Reed told the judge the case is clearly about a defendant who has a mental illness, and presented a neuropsychiatrist?s finding that McRae denies his mental health issues and needs help to understand his illness.
