An Aberdeen man was sentenced 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to rape charges relating to two incidents in Harford County.
Davonntee Sconion, 22, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for rape in the first degree, as well as a life sentence with all but 25 years suspended and three years supervised release for attempted rape. The two sentences will be served concurrently.
On Sept. 10, 2017, a woman contacted Aberdeen Police saying she had just been raped. The woman said she has placed an ad on backpage.com, a site that has since been shut down but was a popular forum for those looking to interact in the sex trade, and was set to meet with a man who agreed to pay $250 for sex. After the meeting spot for their interaction changed, she was told to go to the parking lot of the Economy Inn where a cab would take her to 40 Liberty Street in Aberdeen. As she got to the parking lot, a tall, thin black man accosted her at knife point. He then dragged her to a backyard at 21 Carol Avenue and raped her before fleeing in an unknown direction.
The woman went to Harford Memorial Hospital where she was examined and DNA swabs were taken for analysis by the Maryland State Police Lab.
Less than 24 hours later, Aberdeen Police got a 911 call at nearly 9 p.m. about an attempted rape. Another woman who attempted to arrange an interaction on backpage.com agreed to meet a man at 40 Liberty Street. When she arrived the home was dark and a man was standing on the porch. The woman grew uneasy and attempted to return to her car, but the man grabbed her by the hair and punched her, attempting to drag her into the house. As the woman fought back, the man screamed he had a knife and would kill her. Fearing for her life, she struck at him with a razor, cutting him. The man then ran and slashed the woman's tire. She was able to escape and drove on the damaged tire until she gained the assistance of a neighbor, who gave her a shirt and called police. An Aberdeen Police K9 unit responded, and the dog tracked the smell of the attacker from 40 Liberty Road to 29 Liberty Road.
The woman was treated by medics and DNA was swabbed, including the attacker's blood.
On Oct. 3, 2017, Aberdeen Police were participating in a SAFE streets community engagement program in the neighborhood of the rapes. The detective assigned to investigating the rape, Milton Alexander, interacted with a man who matched the description of the attacker and said he lived at 29 Liberty Road. Police obtained a warrant to collect the man's DNA, and a subsequent lab test matched Sconion's DNA to the samples obtained from both rape victims.
