Capital Crescent Trail groping suspect: 'I thought I had up to five minutes to be consensual'

BETHESDA, Md. - A D.C. man is facing charges for sexually assaulting a woman on the Capital Crescent Trail in Bethesda.

According to court documents, the incident happened at around 2 p.m. on Nov. 30 while the victim was jogging on the trail towards Bethesda near River Road and the Sumner Shopping Center.

The documents say she told responding officers at the scene that the suspect "came up behind her and groped her buttocks and breasts 'very intimately.'" The victim said she pepper-sprayed the suspect before he walked away. She reported that she called 911 and followed after the man until officers arrived.

Police say officers located the suspect, identified as 24-year-old William Opare, nearby the Bethesda Outdoor Pool at Hillandale Road. He told police he had been pepper-sprayed. But when an officer asked why it happened, police say he told them, "Because I poked her in the butt." He also stated, "But I thought I had up to five minutes to be consensual."

Opare has been charged with second-degree assault and fourth-degree sexual offense.