In 1991, Richard Marks was sentenced to 25 years in prison with no parole after he pleaded guilty to burglary.
So why wasn?t Marks behind bars late Monday night, instead of hiding in the bedroom of two children in Dundalk?
“I did the math,” Baltimore County State?s Attorney Scott Shellenberger said. “And we thought 25 with no parole meant 25 with no parole. Why he is out on the street now? I do not know.”
A Dundalk father found Marks, 49, at 2:30 a.m. trying to hide in his children?s bedroom. Baltimore County police say Marks drugged the man?s 6-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son and was attempting to sexually assault the boy. The father forced Marks to the ground outside his home and held him until police arrived, according to charging documents.
Marks was released early from his 1991 prison sentence because he earned good behavior credits, said state corrections spokesman Mark Vernarelli. “We sometimes get blamed, but it is state law enacted by the legislature,” he said.
Marks was convicted of burglary in 1974 and sentenced to five years, according to Shellenberger. In 1980, he was convicted of assault with intent to murder and sentenced to 12 years incarceration.
At the time of Marks? 1991 conviction, Shellenberger said prosecutors thought they won a “big victory” because of the lengthy prison sentence.
But Marks was released in April under a system of diminution credits, prison officials said.
“Nine years worth of good time credits is way too much time off,” Shellenberger said.
In Monday?s incident, the father found two rags with a strong chemical smell in the children?s bedroom and the same odor was found in their hair, police said. Detectives also said one of the children had seen a man two days earlier in their backyard, but he fled.
Police searched Marks? Dundalk home, where they found binoculars, rubber gloves, pornographic literature and information on various chemicals and drugs ? including GHB, known as the “date rape drug.”
Marks is charged with attempted sex offense against a 9-year-old boy, burglary, assault, assault against a police officer and resisting arrest.
