The suspect wanted in connection with a brutal sexual assault was easy to find. He was in jail for another crime at the time investigators cracked the cold case in July.
But last month, Ronald Lee Moore, 40, a convicted burglar, was set free because of a technicality, even though he was ordered to be held on no bail.
“Moore was released [Nov. 21] instead of being turned over to the Anne Arundel County Detention Center because of an oversight at the Division of Correction Commitment Office,” said Mark Vernarelli, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. “The new commitment pending hearing in Mr. Moore?s file was not noticed due to human error.”
Moore, of Silver Spring, is charged with first- and second-degree sex offense, unnatural or perverted practice, second-degree assault and first-degree burglary related to an Oct. 23, 1999, incident. A source familiar with the case said Moore also lives at 525 Old Home Road in Baltimore County and got married while in prison.
According to police, Moore entered a woman?s Glen Burnie apartment, moved her 2-year-old child from the master bedroom and told the victim that if she made a noise he would kill her. He then sexually assaulted the woman, punched her in the head several times and shocked her with a “cow prod,” police said.
Moore?s DNA was matched last July to semen from the attack. His DNA was in the FBI?s Combined DNA Index for an unrelated burglary in 2000, according to court documents.
Detectives obtained an arrest warrant May 22, and the county sheriff?s department sent an order to the Maryland Division of Corrections to inform prison officials not to release Moore, said Kristin Riggin, spokeswoman for the State?s Attorney?s Office.
Anne Arundel Circuit Judge William Mulford postponed Moore?s October trial and ordered him held without bail. He failed to show up Monday in court; Mulford ordered a bench warrant for his arrest.
Moore had served about eight years in prison for a series of burglaries.
