Ex-Baltimore Teacher Indicted On Rape Charges In Girl's Disappearance

BALTIMORE, MD — A teacher in the Baltimore City Public Schools has been indicted by a Baltimore County grand jury on two dozen criminal counts in connection with the sexual assault of a girl who was missing for a week.

The Baltimore Banner reported Lewis M. Laury Jr., 24, a U.S. history teacher at Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School in Baltimore and a law student, faces 24 counts, including second-degree rape and sexual offense in the third degree.

Detectives with the Baltimore County Police Department arrested Laury on July 1 after investigating a report of an inappropriate relationship between Laury and a minor, a police report said. Laury was charged with second-degree rape and sexual offense in the third degree.

He is being held without bail at the Baltimore County Detention Center, police said.

The victim, 12, had been missing for seven days when she was found by police in Laury’s home on June 27 in Pikesville, charging documents show, the Banner reported.

The girl’s mother found a note taped to her daughter’s wall saying that she would be going to Pennsylvania for a week to stay with a family the mother had never heard of.

Prosecutors said Laury met the girl at a playground in their neighborhood, the Baltimore Sun reported. She told detectives she had told Laury that she was 22 years old.

Laury is a Towson University graduate who noted he had internships at the Baltimore City Council and Maryland General Assembly on his LinkedIn page.

A Baltimore City Public Schools spokesperson told the Sun Wednesday that Laury “was no longer with” the school system and had been fired in June.