A Churchton man allegedly poked a woman with a syringe filled with semen in a grocery store. According to police, it’s still unclear whether any of the syringes tested by the officials was used to stab the woman.
Thomas Byron Stemen got arrested soon after Anne Arundel County police officers got information linked to the Feb. 18 altercation, captured by video footage. Stemen allegedly tried to stab two other women with syringes before stabbing the woman in question.
In the video footage, Stemen is seen following the woman as she returns a shopping cart. He then pulls out an object from his pocket and then pushes it through a woman’s backside and thereafter returns it to his sweatshirt. After the attack, the woman bends down in pain, looking down at her leg.
When the woman asked Stemen whether he had burnt her with a cigarette he said, “Ya it felt like a bee sting didn’t it.”
However, after the stab, the woman said she felt something wet flowing down her pants, court record. Later when she examined the spot at home, she noticed an apparent puncture wound on her behind. The following day, the wound expanded to 4 inches wide, wrote the police.
Even so, Stemen denied stabbing the woman, and when the police asked what he was doing behind the woman he said, “Doing nothing just standing there.”
Currently, the investigators are testing the semen for any disease, and if the fluid belongs to Stemen. Meanwhile, the 51-year-old has been charged with three counts of first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment.
Semen is one of the most common modes of HIV transmission. Therefore, a person pricked with a syringe containing it is at risk of contracting HIV. The victim is also at risk of other bloodborne pathogens such as hepatitis B and hepatitis C. For this reason, the syringes used for the attack are still under investigation.
According to the police, Stemen might have attacked several other women using the syringes. As such, women are encouraged to come out and report such attacks.
“The way he did this with zero hesitation, it’s hard to watch and think this is his first time doing this,” a police spokeswoman, Sgt. Jackie Davis said.
Anyone with information concerning the incident is encouraged to call detectives to help with ongoing investigations.
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