A Fort Washington man told police he began a series of home invasion robberies in Montgomery County last week after his partner was killed while the two robbed a drug dealer in Washington, D.C., according to prosecutors.

Kevin Darnell Ray, 33, was arrested by Montgomery County detectives assigned to the U.S. Marshals Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force in North Carolina on Saturday. He could face several terms of life imprisonment based on the crimes with which he is charged with in Montgomery County. Ray also is wanted by Prince George’s County police, said Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy. He was ordered detained without bond by a district court judge Tuesday.

McCarthy called Judge Barry A. Hamilton’s decision appropriate in light of the crimes Ray is charged with, which include a Jan. 10 robbery home invasion in Wheaton and another Jan. 11 in Bethesda.

“There were children involved in these incidents, there were threats to kill not only the women who were the primary victims in these cases but also the children,” McCarthy said.

Ray admitted to all of the crimes and implicated himself in several others in Prince George’s and the District when police interviewed him after his arrest, McCarthy said.

Ray, a registered sex offender who has served time in jail for involuntary manslaughter and armed robbery since 1996, told police he and another man committed a number of armed robberies of drug dealers in Washington, D.C., said Assistant State’s Attorney Peter Feeney, who will prosecute the case.

The invasions

Feeney revealed details of both crimes during Ray’s bond hearing Tuesday. On Jan. 10, Ray approached a woman holding her infant child in the garage of her home at the 2900 block of McMahon Road as she returned from visiting a neighbor, Feeney said.

“He told her, ‘Don’t move, don’t scream or I’ll shoot you and your baby,’” Feeney told Hamilton.

After robbing the woman of her credit card and forcing her to get her car keys from the house, Ray told police he ordered the woman to put the baby in the car and drive him to an ATM to withdraw money, Feeney said. The woman begged him not to take her baby and Ray decided to lock the woman and the baby in a closet in her garage while he fled in her car, a 2009 Ford Escape that was later recovered by police.

The woman eventually was able to free herself and call 911, Feeney said, providing police with a description of Ray from when he briefly removed a ski mask.

Around 6:45 a.m. the next day, Ray confronted a housekeeper as she stepped outside to move her car from the driveway of her employer’s home in the 2900 block of Bardon Road, Feeney said.

Ray forced the housekeeper into the home, holding a gun to her head, where he met the homeowner and her 14-year-old son, Feeney said. After ordering his captives to an upstairs bedroom, Ray tied up the victims and took a credit card and other items, threatening to shoot the homeowner if the personal identification number she gave him did not work.

Ray then took the housekeeper into an upstairs bathroom to sexually assault her, Feeney said.

“He forced her into the shower, then he blindfolds her and takes what he said was a pair of scissors but what she believed was a knife and held it to her throat,” Feeney said.

After forcing her to perform oral sex on him Ray turned on the shower, Feeney said.

“He knew his DNA profile was uploaded to a database so he was therefore trying to destroy evidence [of his crime],” Feeney said.

Ray fled in the housekeeper’s vehicle, also recovered by police nearby, and the homeowner called police after she and her son escaped, Feeney said.

Ray requested a public defender to represent him in his case and is scheduled for a hearing Feb. 10.

Other crimes

Ray also admitted to a Jan. 13 home invasion in the 2500 block of Berkley Street in Prince George’s County, Feeney said. Police say Ray followed a woman into her house after she had gone outside to start her car. While brandishing a handgun, he tied up six people inside the house, including a 7-year-old child. He then raped the woman twice, Feeney said.

Police linked Ray to the crimes when he made purchases at several stores in the District and Prince George’s County using various stolen credit cards. Surveillance footage was obtained from the stores and a witness identified Ray by name, according to police charging documents.

Montgomery County prosecutors are investigating how many crimes Ray can be charged with and in which jurisdictions, McCarthy said. Prosecutors also are looking into how many prior convictions and jail sentences Ray has served and whether he is eligible to be imprisoned without possibility of parole.

A warrant also has been filed in Prince George’s County charging Ray with several counts related to the Jan. 13 crimes in Temple Hills, Feeney said.

jarias@gazette.net