A Prince George’s County man accused of raping a 12-year-old girl in Wheaton last month was working on a construction project for the Montgomery school system, but was not authorized for the job because of past felony convictions, according to the school system.
In a letter sent to Wheaton High School and Thomas Edison High School of Technology families on Monday, the school system said James Booker, a 59-year-old from Upper Marlboro who was arrested after allegedly raping a child outside her home, was working on a construction project at athletic fields shared by the two schools.
Police said a 12-year-old girl was walking home from school in the pouring rain May 23 when Booker drove alongside her and offered a ride, took her to her house and parked. Booker sexually assaulted her as they sat in the parked car, police said.
The child told her parents about the assault and Booker was arrested at work five days later, according to police.
Booker has prior robbery and drug distribution convictions on his record, according to the school system, and he “was not cleared to be in any MCPS school nor to have direct contact with students,” Edison principal Shawn Krasa said in the letter.
Krasa said a school system background check revealed his prior felony convictions. The letter does not indicate when or why the school system conducted the background check.
Based on those convictions, state law would prohibit Booker from working unsupervised on school grounds...
