A Maryland police officer convicted of raping one woman and assaulting another will be allowed to serve the entirety of his sentence at ho...
A Maryland police officer convicted of raping one woman and assaulting another will be allowed to serve the entirety of his sentence at home.
Baltimore County Circuit Judge Keith Truffer said there was “not evidence of any psychological injury to the victim,” and suspended all but four years of a 15-year prison term and ordered the officer, Anthony Westerman, to serve it at home.
The sentence was announced on Monday by the office of the Baltimore County state’s attorney, the Baltimore Sun reported.
Westerman was convicted in August of two counts of second-degree rape, third- and fourth-degree sexual offense and second-degree assault of a 22-year-old woman in October 2017. The 27-year-old officer was additionally convicted of second-degree assault of another woman in June 2019.
An investigation was launched into Westerman later that year, after authorities were notified of at least three women who were allegedly assaulted.
In the first case, Westerman said he would arrange a ride home for a pair of women after meeting at a bar the night of Oct. 4, 2017. Instead, he directed the driver to take all three of them back to his his home, where he allegedly raped one of the women while she was unconscious, court documents show.
The assault charges involve another 22-year-old victim, who told police she was at a birthday party in Middle River with Westerman when he grabbed her and tried to kiss her multiple times until she left, according to the charging documents.
In a statement to NBC News, Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger said the sentence was “not appropriate” for a police officer, who “should know as well or better than others the reprehensibility of such an act.”
“I fear this could cause rape victims to hesitate to report their crimes if they do not feel like they will get justice,” he said.
A lawyer for Westerman, Brian Thompson, said his client was “relieved” that the judge had ordered home confinement.
“We believe that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence,” he said. “This was a ‘he said, she said’ case in which everyone was intoxicated.”
Westerman remained suspended from the force as of Tuesday.
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