A Baltimore County police officer convicted of raping a woman will avoid jail time after a judge sentenced him to home confinement. Anthony Westerman, 27, was convicted in August of raping a 22-year-old woman in 2017 and assaulting another woman in 2019.

Prosecutors said that Westerman, who was not on duty at the time, told the woman he would get her an Uber from a bar, but instead took her back to his home and raped her.

While Westerman was sentenced to 15 years behind bars, Circuit Judge Keith Truffer suspended the sentence and said he will have to serve four years of home confinement. In a shocking declaration, Truffer claimed there was no “evidence of any psychological injury to the victim."

Prosectors were livid at the sentence and the insinuation that the victim did not suffer psychological trauma following the attack.

"It really is the whole package that I think sends the wrong message not only to defendants but also to sexual assault victims. By them seeing this sentence, they may have second thoughts about reporting their own rape cases," Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger said.

Westerman’s defense attorney, Brian Thompson, said he disagrees with the conviction and is planning to file an appeal.

"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."

Calendar Events