Semen squirting sicko sentenced to probation

A suburban DC man was sentenced to probation Thursday, February 24 for squirting semen onto 5 female shoppers. The gooey attacks took place between November 2009 and July 2010. Montgomery County District Court Judge Stephen P. Johnson sentenced 28 year old Michael Wayne Edwards Jr. to counseling and regular status hearings, but not sex offender registration. The perp plead guilty in November 2010 to 2 counts of 2nd degree assault and the three years probation are for those counts running concurrently.

Officers from the Gaithersburg Police Department arrested Edwards July 29 after investigation showed that he had followed a woman out of the Giant Food grocery store at 842 Muddy Branch Road on July 15 and sprayed human semen on her back from a small plastic bottle, police said.

He was freed on $4,000 bail until Montgomery County Police arrested him again Aug. 2 and charged him with spraying semen on another woman in November 2009 at the Michaels craft store in the Kentlands neighborhood of Gaithersburg.

He was charged with three additional assaults after police found video recordings on his cell phone of similar attacks on unknown women, but those charges were not prosecuted. Two of the attacks filmed on the cell phone occurred July 2 as women were leaving the Muddy Branch Giant, police said. Edwards sprayed one woman at about 8 a.m. and another at about 8:20 a.m., according to police charging documents. On July 8, he went back to the store and sprayed a woman as she left at about 3:15 p.m. Those victims did not come forward.

Defense attorney Barry Helfand said those attacks were not prosecuted because egg white and vinegar mix, not semen, was squirted during those incidents.

Prosecutor Amy Bills recommended 1 1/2 years imprisonment, but said she thought the judge's decision was fair. Judge Johnson cited to lack of previous criminal history and his feeling that incarceration would not give Edwards any more insight into his crimes than intensive supervised probation.  The judge prohibited Edwards from going to the neighborhoods or the supermarket chains where the semen soakings occurred.

To the victim at the Michael's store, Edwards said, "I apologize to all for my actions. I've had a lot of time to think about this and reflect on this." After the sentencing, he said, "I'm ashamed. It's a shameful act. I'm very apologetic and it won't happen again."