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A 15-year-old Wheaton boy has been accused of raping and robbing a woman in Aspen Hill Saturday.

Tyree Echols, of the 2200 block of Georgian Woods Place, is charged as an adult with first-degree rape, attempted first-degree rape, robbery and first-degree assault, Montgomery County Police reported.

At a hearing Tuesday, District Court Judge Cheryl A. McCally would not allow the teen to be released from the county's jail on bond because the charges leveled against him indicate he could pose a threat to the community.

Echols, held in the Clarksburg jail, appeared on a courtroom television screen. He spoke little, but said he understood the charges against him.

Prosecutor Peter Feeney said that Echols has a conviction for second-degree assault and disorderly conduct as a juvenile and faces destruction of property charges in Vermont, where he was attending a residential school.

Assistant public defender Theresa Chernosky represented Echols during the bond hearing. She could not be reached after the hearing.

Echols' father, Tyree Echols Sr., is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the rape and murder of a 19-year-old Aspen Hill woman in 1997, county police spokeswoman Lucille Baur said. He also received another life sentence for the attempted murder of the woman's boyfriend, according to published reports.

Attempts to find an attorney for Echols Sr. were unsuccessful.

Police say the younger Echols attacked a 24-year-old woman after following her off a bus around 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

As she walked away from the bus stop on Bel Pre Road near Grand Pre Road toward her apartment, police say Echols grabbed the woman from behind and forced her off the sidewalk and into the woods. The man punched and hit the woman in the face and choked her as he sexually assaulted her, but the victim was able to fight him off and he fled across Bel Pre Road, said Officer Melanie Brenner, a Montgomery County Police spokeswoman.

"It was a very violent attack," Brenner said, adding the man also stole cash from the woman.

The woman suffered minor injuries, mostly to her face, and was taken to a local hospital for treatment and released the next morning, Brenner said.

Police arrested Echols Monday night near Georgia Avenue and Shorefield Road in Wheaton.

Angela Cruz, also a county police spokeswoman, said there have not been any recent similar incidents in the Aspen Hill area.