A 24-year-old Baltimore man charged with raping a Towson University student has been accused of an earlier sexual assault near the Inner Harbor.
After his arrest Sunday in the Towson case, Ian Murphy — who told authorities he works at Harborplace’s Banana Republic store — was charged in a warrant with raping a 22-year-old exotic dancer on Oct. 2.
Appearing before a Baltimore County judge on Tuesday, Murphy professed his innocence — saying he couldn’t “possibly” have raped the 21-year-old college student at 1 a.m. Oct. 6.
The suspect, of the 1000 block of Cedarcroft Road, asked Baltimore County District Judge Robert Steinberg to allow him to return home but Steinberg denied bail.
Murphy, who addressed the judge as “sir” in a video feed from the county detention center, said that on the night of the rape he was not wearing the the clothes described in the police report, and that the people who turned him in barely know him.
“I’ve only known those people for three weeks,” he said. “… I’m definitely not guilty of these charges.”
But Murphy conceded the police have strong evidence against him.
“I know this would be a very hard case to fight with a public defender,” said Murphy, who was dressed in a yellow jail jumpsuit.
Prosecutor Jason League said Murphy’s own statements show his culpability.
“This is a very serious case,” League said.
The prosecutor said Murphy told police two different stories about the rape of the student. First, he indicated he had seen a woman coming from behind some bushes, saying she had been raped — and a man running away. But then, under questioning by police, Murphy changed his story, League said.
“He claimed she had consented” to sex with him, League said.
Cpl. Mike Hill, a Baltimore County police spokesman, said “concerned citizens” provided police with tips leading to Murphy’s arrest. Hill said Murphy came up to the student as she unloaded groceries outside her home in the 7900 block of Knollwood Road, implied he had a gun and forced her to walk three blocks away, where he attacked her behind some bushes.
Born in Florida, Murphy moved to Baltimore five years ago and lives with his mother in North Baltimore, a pretrial services representative said over the video feed.
Murphy said he has worked at the Banana Republic at Baltimore’s Harborplace for about a month. A manager at the Banana Republic said he couldn’t comment on the case or disclose the position Murphy held at the store.
Baltimore police spokeswoman Officer Nicole Monroe said Murphy attacked the dancer shortly after she got off work on The Block at 3 a.m. Murphy struck up a conversation and asked her to walk to Federal Hill with him, Monroe said.
As Murphy and dancer walked around the Inner Harbor, Murphy asked her to go to a hotel. When she questioned him about the hotel’s location, Murphy grabbed her by the hair and raped her between two vehicles in the 700 block of Eastern Avenue, Monroe said.
Baltimore County police investigating the Towson rape came across some evidence belonging to the dancer, who then identified Murphy as her attacker, police said.
At Murphy’s court hearing Tuesday, the pretrial services worker noted Murphy has a conviction for malicious destruction in Baltimore.
