A man who stabbed a woman with a syringe full of his semen has been sentenced to ten years in prison.
Thomas Stemen attacked the unsuspecting victim on February 18th, 2020, in the parking lot of Christopher’s Grocery Store Edgewater in Churchton, Maryland. As she returned her shopping cart, the woman says that Stemen bumped into her and shoved the needle in her buttocks. She was unaware of the needle at the time but felt pain immediately. She asked the attacker if he’d burned her with a cigarette.
“Ya, it felt like a bee sting, didn’t it?” Stemen replied. The victim noticed a red spot on her buttocks that appeared to be a tiny puncture wound. She says she also felt wetness on her pants following the assault. The following day, the red area on her buttocks had expanded, and the woman went to a local hospital for treatment. Surveillance footage obtained by law enforcement showed the man walking closely behind the unsuspecting shopper before retrieving something from his pocket and forcing it into her. Once police identified him, they performed a search warrant on his home, where they located additional syringes in his car and house that contained unknown liquid. Crime lab analysis confirmed the fluid to be semen, and DNA linked him to the grocery store assault.
The 52-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of felony first-degree assault and one count of second-degree assault. In addition to receiving a decade behind bars, he must also serve five years of supervised release and undergo substance abuse treatment and mental health evaluation.
State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess called Stemen’s actions “horrific” and stated that the man purposely sought unsuspecting women to assault. He was seen lunging at several other women that day.
